MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Juvenile Justice

By: Representative Holden

AN ACT TO REQUIRE STUDENTS EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL ON TWO OR MORE OCCASIONS TO TOUR A STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR PARENT, BEFORE BEING ALLOWED TO RE-ENROLL IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL; TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS TO DEVELOP A PROGRAM SPECIFICALLY FOR STUDENTS REQUIRED TO TAKE SUCH TOURS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) After any student in fifth grade or higher has been expelled from a public school on two (2) or more occasions, before the student is allowed to re-enroll in any public school in this state, the student, accompanied by a parent or guardian, must participate in a tour of the State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility or the South Mississippi Correctional Institution. In order to re-enroll in a public school, the student must present documentation upon applying for enrollment from the Mississippi Department of Corrections evidencing that the student and his parent or guardian has toured one (1) of the three (3) state correctional facilities.

(2) The Mississippi Department of Corrections shall develop a program specifically for students required to tour a state correctional facility under subsection (1) of this section. The program shall include a tour of the facility and presentations by correctional officers and offenders which focus on the consequences of crime and being convicted of violating the law. The department shall schedule certain dates and times that students may tour the correctional facilities or, in its discretion, may arrange for such tours on an individual basis with students.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998.