The Mississippi Department of Corrections issued the following statement.
Meeting
at the Mississippi Supreme Court building, judges, district attorneys,
law enforcement officials, and new leadership at the Mississippi
Department of Corrections converged to
find better ways to return prisoners to society once they’ve completed
their sentences.
At 17,326 inmates, Mississippi’s prison population is at a two-year low.
“To
see a constant decline,” said Barton Norfleet of PEER to the
Mississippi Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force, “we
really need to focus on intervention
programs, reviewing sentencing policies and others.”
Therefore, re-entry is on the forefront of the task force’s recommendations to the 2021 Legislature.
“We
know the solution is moral rehabilitation and we know how to get
there,” Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain said. “In our re-entry model,
we have a real need for mental
health programs to help inmates break drug addictions.”
The
task force was established after comprehensive criminal justice reform
was passed by the 2014 Mississippi Legislature to help former inmates
transition back into society
among other things. According to the National Institute of Justice, a
third of prisoners released in Mississippi return within three years
but, in five years, the state’s recidivism rate jumps to 77 percent.
“Throughout
my time serving the public, providing for the safety of our citizens
and the human dignity of all within the system through criminal justice
reform has been
one of my top priorities,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “We still have
more work to do, and that starts with improving our recidivism rate. The
current rate in Mississippi is unacceptable. This criminal justice task
force will move our re-entry program in the
right direction so inmates are equipped to succeed and thrive out in
society.”
The
task force, which met Thursday in Jackson, discussed beefing up
measures to allow ex-prisoners to re-acquire the tools they need to
succeed on the outside, starting
with drivers’ licenses and Social Security cards. “I’m just begging for
a state I.D. (for inmates),” said Mississippi Parole Board Chairman
Steve Pickett.
Commissioner
Cain agreed, adding, “You’ve got to have an I.D. to get a job or you
have to rob somebody to get a grubstake and then we’ve forced them to
come right back to
us. We have to equip them. Re-entry is the part that’s missing.”
Judge
William “Rusty” Knight, a 10-year Re-entry Court judge in Louisiana
invited by Commissioner Cain, told the task force, “Job vocational
training, substance abuse programs,
and mental health treatment are all desperately needed. No, there
won’t be a 100 percent success rate but we can change lives. Recidivism
in Louisiana’s Corrections Re-entry program is less than 10 percent.”
The
commissioner also invited to speak three former inmates who completed
Louisiana’s moral rehabilitation programs at Angola State Prison and
graduated college-accredited
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Ronald Olivier, Sidney
Deloch, and George King are now chaplains at Mississippi State
Penitentiary in Parchman.
“Together,”
said Commissioner Cain, “these guys have done 112 years in prison. We
say we can change prisoners and they can re-enter society and these guys
prove it. And
we are bringing these same programs to Parchman, CMCF (Central
Mississippi Correctional Facility) and SMCI (South Mississippi
Correctional Institution) to both educate minds and change hearts.
This, I believe, is Mississippi’s best hope for real prison reform.”
Cain commended task force Chairman Judge Prentiss Harrell of the 15th
District Court, saying, “Judge Harrell has a passion for this Re-entry
Court. He wanted
to be the first to start with moral rehabilitation programs. This is
an historic time in Mississippi, and that’s why I’m here.”
Judge
Harrell replied, “Commissioner Cain’s optimism is a breath of fresh air
in this age of handwringing and the sky-is-falling mentality. He can
and has changed lives
and accomplished something.”
In
addition, the task force discussed initiatives to allow some portion of
Mississippi’s geriatric inmate population to be eligible for early
release. “There is a clear
misconnection,” said State Defender André de Gruy, “on what is
geriatric parole and what is compassionate release. Not all old people
are sick and not all sick people are old.”
Finally,
Commissioner Cain is moving forward with Mississippi’s Moral
Rehabilitation program by building non-denominational churches at
Parchman to give all prisoners faith-based
options. Cain is not using taxpayer funds but rather is earmarking
private donations to build the churches while training inmates for
construction jobs.
“My
goal,” said the Commissioner, “is to christen the first church built at
Parchman’s Unit 30 on Easter morning. Easter is about renewal, and we
are renewing Mississippi’s
prisons based on compassion, education, and forgiveness.”
14 comments:
Just hire more police to treat their mental health issues. Cops are the best listeners. Defund the healthcare. Abolish hospitals.
I have a plan for rebuilding your house after it burns. My wife seems to think my time would be better spent developing a plan to prevent the house from burning in the first place. I don't know. What do you think?
Second incarceration for a felony within 2 years the penalty should be an immediate trip to the chair. Problem(s) solved in all sectors.
@7:52, let’s hear your plan for ending crime.
@7;52 Why not both?
"At 17,326 inmates, Mississippi’s prison population is at a two-year low."
Well hell yes, it is. Catch and release has certainly contributed to that, I'm sure. This crap reads like Mad Magazine.
I'm well on board with improving re-entry into society. The problem I see is are the inmates on board as well? In regards to MH in this state, as well as the country, we have people trained in MH who really don't want to do their jobs as expected. We need them in the field, yet they will not enter the field, but rather stay safe in their offices and hospitals. The system to treat is currently patient based with many patients leaving treatment ASAP, not to return which ends up with sometimes tragic results.
So you're going to offer classes in how to be more successful at armed robbery, car jackings, drug sales and homicides?
"We know the solution is moral rehabilitation". One of the enlightened statements in this article. It doesn't matter if you teach a thief plumbing, then he'll just be a plumber that steals, if he even bothers to get work. Glad to see they're looking to Angola as an example, Chuck Colson's prison ministry had a lot to do with their success.
If it werent for racism, these people could be placed in executive training programs like the white prisoners get. Why must a black man be a plumber.
My friend's an Asian plumber and is very comfortable. What did a plumber do to you?
12:04 is just another idiot trying to talk about something her has absolutely no knowledge of.
Even if the prison system had the so called executive training you talk about, 99.3% of the prisoners you moan about couldn't make the cut, due to the failure to comprehend the use of the three needed skills to succeed at anything.....Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
Then of course, if they'd attempted to gain those skills in school, they wouldn't be in prison in the first place.
I remember when re-entry meant splash-down and swift-boats.
Doesn't re-entry into the workforce require that one was there earlier?
“To see a constant decline,” said Barton Norfleet of PEER to the Mississippi Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force, “we really need to focus on intervention programs, reviewing sentencing policies and others.”
I ain't got no fancy name like Barton Norfleet (wasn't he in the fourth James Bond movie?), but, 'to see a constant decline' in incarceration, I think we must see a decline in crime. I may be wrong, now, but that's my take on stuff.
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