MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Wiggins, Fillingane, Carter, Hill, McMahan, Younger, Williams, Suber
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-9-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CRIMINALIZE ABSCONDING FROM PAROLE OR PROBATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-9-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-9-45. If any person sentenced to the Mississippi Department of Corrections for any term shall escape or attempt to escape from his particular unit or camp of confinement or the boundaries of the penitentiary as a whole, or shall escape or attempt to escape from custody before confinement therein, or shall abscond from parole or probation for a period of six (6) months or more, he shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in such prison for a term not exceeding five (5) years, to commence from and after the expiration of the original term of his imprisonment as extended in consequence of such escape or attempted escape.
Any convict who is entrusted to leave the boundaries of confinement by authorities of the Mississippi Department of Corrections or by the Governor, and who willfully fails to return within the stipulated time, or after the accomplishment of the purpose for which he was entrusted to leave, shall be an escapee and, upon conviction, shall be subject to the penalties provided under this section.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.