MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Corrections; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Simmons (13th), Barnett, Jackson (32nd), Blackmon, Jackson (11th), Chassaniol, Frazier, Thomas, Jordan, Witherspoon, Simmons (12th), Hill
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 47-5-931 AND 47-5-933, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO GRANT AUTHORITY TO THE GOVERNOR AND COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTIONS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF OFFENDERS WHO CAN BE PLACED IN REGIONAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES; TO AUTHORIZE TO INCREASE THE REGIONAL PER DIEM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 47-5-931, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
47-5-931. (1) The
Department of Corrections, in its discretion, may contract with the board of
supervisors of one or more counties * * * or with a regional facility operated by
one or more counties, to provide for housing, care and control of offenders who
are in the custody of the State of Mississippi. Any facility owned or leased
by a county or counties for this purpose shall be designed, constructed,
operated and maintained in accordance with American Correctional Association
standards, and shall comply with all constitutional standards of the United States
and the State of Mississippi, and with all court orders that may now or
hereinafter be applicable to the facility. If the Department of Corrections
contracts with more than one (1) county to house state offenders in county
correctional facilities, excluding a regional facility, then the first of such
facilities shall be constructed in Sharkey County and the second of such
facilities shall be constructed in Jefferson County.
(2) The Department of
Corrections shall contract with the board of supervisors of the following
counties to house state inmates in regional facilities: (a) Marion and
Walthall Counties; (b) Carroll and Montgomery Counties; (c) Stone and Pearl
River Counties; (d) Winston and Choctaw Counties; (e) Kemper and Neshoba
Counties; (f) Alcorn County * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; ( * * *g) Yazoo County * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; ( * * *h) Chickasaw County * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; ( * * *i) George and Greene Counties * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; ( * * *j) Washington County * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; ( * * *k) Hinds County * * * and any contiguous county in which there
is located an unapproved jail; (l) Leake County and any contiguous county in
which there is located an unapproved jail; (m) Issaquena County and any
contiguous county in which there is located an unapproved jail; (n) Jefferson
County and any contiguous county in which there is located an unapproved jail;
(o) Franklin County and any contiguous county in which there is located an
unapproved jail; ( * * *p)
Holmes County and any contiguous county in which there is located an unapproved
jail; and ( * * *q)
Bolivar County and any contiguous county in which there is located an
unapproved jail. * * *
The Department of Corrections shall decide the order of priority of the
counties listed in this subsection with which it will contract for the housing
of state inmates. For the purposes of this subsection, the term
"unapproved jail" means any jail that the local grand jury determines
should be condemned or has found to be of substandard condition or in need of
substantial repair or reconstruction.
(3) In addition to the
offenders authorized to be housed under subsection (1) of this section, the
Department of Corrections may contract with * * * any regional
facility to provide for housing, care and control of not more than seventy-five
(75) additional offenders who are in the custody of the State of
Mississippi.
(4) The Governor and the Commissioner of Corrections are authorized to increase administratively the number of offenders who are in the custody of the State of Mississippi that can be placed in regional correctional facilities.
SECTION 2. Section 47-5-933, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
47-5-933. The Department of
Corrections may contract for the purposes set out in Section 47-5-931 for a
period of not more than twenty (20) years. The contract may provide that the
Department of Corrections pay a fee of * * * no more than Thirty-one Dollars ($31.00) per
day for each offender that is housed in the facility. The Department of Corrections
may include in the contract, as an inflation factor, a three percent (3%)
annual increase in the contract price. The state shall retain responsibility
for medical care for state offenders to the extent that is required by law;
provided, however, the department may reimburse each facility for contract
medical services as provided by law in an amount not to exceed Six Dollars and
Twenty-five Cents ($6.25) per day per offender.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.