The Legislature must prioritize habitual sentencing and parole reform

/By  Alesha Judkins, Mississippi State Director
...Expanding the opportunities for parole gives the men and women behind prison walls hope, makes prisons safer, and helps people prepare to return home.

It is the beginning of a new year. A year many of us were excited to start after enduring months of uncertainty and chaos in 2020. But for many Mississippians, this new year won’t bring about a renewed sense of hope unless our legislators pass commonsense criminal justice reforms that would give thousands of people the opportunity to reunite with their families and communities. For many Mississippians behind prison walls and those that love them, this is a new year, riddled with the same flaws. 

For decades, Mississippi’s prison system has been in a crisis that is fueled by harsh and extreme sentencing laws that leave people locked up for decades without meaningful opportunities for early release. The corruption, violence, and horrific living conditions that plague our prison system have been the basis for many many civil rights lawsuits filed against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) over the years.  

The first step to addressing this crisis is passing meaningful policy changes that address our dangerously high prison population. We know that long sentences do not make us safer and it is time to invest in policies that will truly support public safety and thriving communities. In 2020, our prison crisis hit a breaking point. The year began with a chain of preventable events and chaos at  Parchman prison on December 29, 2019 that led to a year of a record number of deaths with more than 100 people dying behind bars. 

“...More than half of voters believe that convictions older than 10 years shouldn’t count towards a habitual sentence.

In February 2020, President Trump’s Department of Justice launched an investigation into four of the state’s prisons to look into the high number of tragic deaths, violence and awful living conditions. The investigation was paused as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, but it is safe to assume that the incoming Biden administration will be taking a closer look into what’s happening in Mississippi. We only have to look as far as neighboring Alabama to see what lies ahead if nothing is done to address our prison crisis. The Department of Justice conducted a similar investigation into Alabama’s prison system. That investigation led to a lawsuit that could cost Alabama one billion dollars to address these problems. Mississippi is following the same path as Alabama, but it is not too late to take action and avoid making Mississippi taxpayers foot a billion dollar bill to fix this crisis.

Mississippi’s prisons have been far from immune from the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 1,400 people have contracted COVID-19 in Mississippi prisons. There have been outbreaks at five different facilities across the state.  Sadly, we knew from the beginning of the pandemic that people in prisons are at far greater risk of contracting this lethal virus because they can’t practice social distancing or take other preventative measures. In addition, poor healthcare in Mississippi prisons places those infected at  higher risk of death. To top it all off, in 2020 Mississippi surpassed Oklahoma to become the state with the second highest imprisonment rate in the nation and we’re on track to become number one as Louisiana, the nation’s top incarcerator, has passed reforms that will help reduce their high prison population.

Despite the grim circumstances of 2020, there was hope for reform. Last year, the state legislature worked very hard to advance two long-overdue bills that would restore hope to thousands of Mississippi families while also saving taxpayers money, but neither made it across the finish line. Mississippi’s extreme sentencing laws are only fueling our prison crisis by keeping our loved ones locked up for far too long. Those bills would have expanded parole eligibility and reformed harsh habitual sentencing laws helping thousands of incarcerated Mississippians. 

This year, we must hang onto the hope that there is an appetite for change and that Mississippi has the opportunity to see  meaningful criminal justice reform. And, this year, lawmakers must enact parole and habitual sentencing reform. 

We are very glad to see that lawmakers have already introduced bills to reform Mississippi’s restrictive parole laws, bringing Mississippi in line with many other states. Expanding parole gives the Governor-appointed parole board the chance to consider more people for release.  While it does not guarantee release to anyone, expanding the opportunities for parole gives the men and women behind prison walls hope, makes prisons safer, and helps people prepare to return home. Lawmakers should prioritize parole reform this year. 

Mississippi taxpayers spend 360 million dollars on prisons each year, despite research showing that large prison populations and long prison sentences do not make us safer.

Lawmakers have also introduced legislation that would reform Mississippi’s harsh habitual penalties. In Mississippi, habitual penalties can add years, decades, and even life to people’s sentences if they have been convicted of crimes in the past, which further stresses our dangerous  system and does nothing to increase public safety. Under current law, prosecutors can apply habitual penalties to any offense, including minor crimes such as shoplifting or drug possession. These penalties are disproportionately impacting Black men who make up 13 percent of the state’s residents but 75 percent of people sentenced to twenty years or more habitual sentences. Sentencing people to die in prison just because they have been convicted of crimes in the past is not what Mississippians want. In fact, and more than half of voters believe that convictions older than 10 years shouldn’t count towards a habitual sentence. Continuing to keep people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s in prison for mistakes they made as young men and women doesn’t make any sense, and doesn’t make anyone safer. Lawmakers have the chance now to reform these senseless habitual laws. Together, these bills will  save millions of taxpayer dollars during a time when the state is in critical need of investment and when resources could mean saved lives and saved family businesses. Mississippi taxpayers spend 360 million dollars on prisons each year, despite research showing that large prison populations and long prison sentences do not make us safer. In fact, violent crime has fallen faster in the states that have reduced imprisonment over the past decade than in states that increased imprisonment rates. 

This is a new year filled with new opportunities. Let’s make sure it’s a new year filled with hope and redemption. A chance to reunite families and bring healing to communities.  Let’s urge our lawmakers to finish what they started and pass criminal justice reforms that can provide that sense of hope and a second chance to many.

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