Mississippi now leads the world in mass incarceration

Mississippi is now the world’s chief in placing folks behind bars — extra inmates per capita than any state or nation, including China, Russia and Iran, in line with the World Inhabitants Evaluation. 

“Is there a political value to be paid for foolishly sticking with a failed system that’s made us the world capital of mass incarceration?” requested Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Middle on the College of Mississippi Faculty of Regulation. “What’s it going to take for Mississippians to appreciate that the mass incarceration we’ve got carried out for many years has made us much less secure, moderately than safer?” 

Throughout the U.S., the variety of these in jail within the U.S. is 16% decrease at the moment than earlier than the pandemic, in line with the Vera Institute of Justice, however Mississippi’s charge is skyrocketing, rising greater than 1,500 in lower than six months. That inhabitants now exceeds 18,000 — the very best charge since April 2020. 

“We have now perfected throwing folks away for lengthy intervals of time,” Johnson mentioned, “and but after a long time and a long time of this strategy, Mississippians are extra fearful about violent crime than any time I bear in mind.” 

In September 2013, Mississippi had as many as 22,490 inmates behind bars. Within the years since, reforms and an aggressive Parole Board, headed by a veteran legislation enforcement officer, diminished the variety of inmates to the bottom stage in 20 years. On Feb. 7, that inhabitants fell to 16,499, in line with MDOC. 

However with Gov. Tate Reeves’ new board chairman, a former Chevron govt he put in cost in January, that pattern has reversed itself. 

On Aug. 1, the jail inhabitants hit a excessive of 18,080. 

If this present pattern continues, Mississippi would high 19,000 inmates earlier than the top of the 12 months and would surpass 22,000 inmates earlier than the top of 2023. 

That further jail inhabitants would value taxpayers greater than $100 million a 12 months, based mostly on the $53.72 per-day cost computed by the state’s legislative watchdog. 

“We’re caught on this futile cycle of throwing more cash at prisons,” Johnson mentioned. “Even with the Division of Justice respiration down our necks, we are able to’t deal with the folks we’ve got.” 

The Justice Division started investigating the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman in 2020 after MCIR and ProPublica reported on the will increase in grisly violence, gang management and subhuman dwelling circumstances. In April, the division reported that the jail’s circumstances violate the Structure. 

The division is investigating different prisons as effectively. 

Guarantees, Guarantees in Jail Reform 

When Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed Home Invoice 585 into legislation in 2014, the measure drew widespread reward from conservatives and liberals alike as a result of it promised to scale back the jail inhabitants, save hundreds of thousands —  $266  million, to be actual — and reinvest some of the money into programs for offenders. 

As an alternative, all of these financial savings went again into the state’s coffers, serving to to pay for big phased-in company tax cuts enacted in 2016, as a result of the state was struggling to satisfy income estimates. 

Final 12 months, Reeves signed laws geared toward increasing parole eligibility to three,000 extra inmates, believing it might be a “web constructive for Mississippi.” He later bragged concerning the vital discount in inmates at Parchman. 

“I imagine in second probabilities,” he said in an April 22, 2022, tweet. “I belief my Parole Board appointees to make smart selections.” 

However since his appointment of a brand new chairman in 2022, the numbers of paroles have declined. 

When Steven Pickett chaired the board between 2013 and 2021, he mentioned about six of each 10 inmates who appeared earlier than the Parole Board earned their launch. The board sometimes noticed about 5,000 inmates a 12 months. 

Now the board is rejecting much more requests. To this point this 12 months, about three-fourths of inmates who’ve appeared earlier than the board have been rejected for parole. 

On the identical time Mississippi is filling up its prisons, the state is lagging in applications that will assist make sure that inmates don’t return. 

“The Mississippi Division of Corrections can’t have a rodeo or sufficient GED courses, as a result of we don’t have the staffing,” Johnson mentioned. “We in all probability can’t assist greater than about 12,000 incarcerated, however we’ve acquired 18,000.” 

Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain satisfied state lawmakers to boost salaries of correctional officers within the 2022 legislative session. 

Whereas hiring officers has proved a battle, he mentioned Tuesday, “We’re gaining floor. We’re going to indicate the Justice Division we’re transferring alongside.” 

By fall, he hopes to have 80 faculties for inmates to realize certification in engine restore, plumbing, welding, carpentry and different fields. 

By doing this, “we’ll scale back recidivism, and we’ll scale back violence,” he mentioned. “About half of the 4,400 inmates we launch every year could have a talent or commerce.” 

He ran an identical program on the Louisiana State Penitentiary and noticed the recidivism charge drop to less than 10%. 

He known as Mississippi’s program “far more intense. We’re assembly a necessity.” 

Slightly than hiring academics on the skin, he’s utilizing inmates licensed in these fields to show, he mentioned. 

He praised the Parole Board. “We don’t need gangsters getting out,” he mentioned. 

With this new coaching program for inmates, “we’re going to show the curve,” he mentioned. “We have already got folks from Alabama coming to see how we do issues.” 

Options to Jail A part of the Answer 

Cain has additionally began an alcohol and drug program on the once-shuttered Walnut Grove Correctional Facility that homes 32 inmates in a 90-day dependancy program. 

Pickett mentioned such applications play an necessary position in therapy for Mississippi inmates, three-fourths of whom are battling alcohol or drug issues or each. 

For instance, he mentioned, if a parolee is caught with meth and has did not report back to his parole officer for 2 months, what ought to the Parole Board do? 

Ship him again to jail? Or to therapy? 

Locking him up in jail for a 12 months received’t treatment his dependancy, Pickett mentioned. “All we’re doing is placing him in a spot that’s harmful. Meth is simply as prolific in jail as it’s on the streets. It’s very, very unhappy.” 

The opposite possibility could be the Technical Violation Middle. 

State Public Defender Andre de Gruy mentioned the state must do a greater job of using this heart. 

“Now that we’re primary in mass incarceration,” Johnson mentioned, “we must cease and take a collective timeout and have a protracted dialog about whether or not we’re happy and whether or not we’ve had return on the billions we’ve invested. 

“Are we locking up extra folks as a result of there’s one thing about Mississippians that make them morally poor or extra prone to commit crime? Or is there one thing extra to this story?” 

Electronic mail Jerry.Mitchell@MississippiCIR.org. You possibly can observe him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

This report was produced in partnership with the Neighborhood Basis for Mississippi’s native information collaborative, which is independently funded partially by Microsoft Corp. The collaborative consists of the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson Advocate, Jackson State University, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today. We’re additionally making it accessible to the Mississippi Middle for Investigative Reporting by means of a Mississippi Poverty Reporting Collective funded by the W. Okay. Kellogg Basis and managed by Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. 

Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit information group that’s exposing wrongdoing, educating and empowering Mississippians, and elevating up the subsequent era of investigative reporters. Join our newsletter.