MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Barnett, Simmons (12th), Jackson (11th)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 45-1-2, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO IMPLEMENT UNIFORM REPORTING STANDARDS FOR JAIL CENSUS DATA BY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS AND TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR STORING THIS DATA; TO AMEND SECTIONS 19-25-63 AND 47-1-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT JAIL DOCKETS KEPT BY COUNTY SHERIFFS COMPLY WITH UNIFORM REPORTING STANDARDS IN ORDER TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE WITH RULE 8 OF THE MISSISSIPPI RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND INCREASE CRIMINAL JUSTICE TRANSPARENCY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 45-1-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-1-2. (1) The Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety shall be the Commissioner of Public Safety.
(2) The Commissioner of Public Safety shall establish the organizational structure of the Department of Public Safety, which shall include the creation of any units necessary to implement the duties assigned to the department and consistent with specific requirements of law, including, but not limited to:
(a) Office of Public Safety Planning;
(b) Office of Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol;
(c) Office of Forensics Laboratories, which includes the Office of the Medical Examiner;
(d) Office of Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy;
(e) Office of Support Services;
(f) Office of Narcotics, which shall be known as the Bureau of Narcotics; and
(g) Office of Homeland Security.
(3) The department shall be headed by a commissioner, who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The appointment of the commissioner shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commissioner may assign to the appropriate offices such powers and duties as deemed appropriate to carry out the department's lawful functions.
(4) The commissioner of the department shall appoint heads of offices, who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner. The commissioner shall have the authority to organize the offices established by subsection (2) of this section as deemed appropriate to carry out the responsibilities of the department. The organization charts of the department shall be presented annually with the budget request of the Governor for review by the Legislature.
(5) The commissioner of the
department shall appoint, from within the Department of Public Safety, a
statewide safety training officer who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner
and * * *
shall * * *
perform public training for both law enforcement and private persons throughout
the state concerning proper emergency response to * * * mental illness,
terroristic threats or acts, domestic conflict, other conflict resolution, and
such other matters as the commissioner may direct.
(6) The commissioner of the department shall establish within the Office of Homeland Security a Mississippi Analysis and Information Center (MSAIC Fusion Center) which shall be the highest priority for the allocation of available federal resources for statewide information sharing, including the deployment of personnel and connectivity with federal data systems. Subject to appropriation therefor, the Mississippi Fusion Center shall employ three (3) regional analysts dedicated to analyzing and resolving potential threats identified by the agency's statewide social media intelligence platform and the dissemination of school safety information.
(7) (a) The commissioner of the department shall implement and maintain a publicly accessible centralized database for the storage and retrieval of real-time comprehensive jail census data and historical detention data, and promulgate uniform rules, regulations, and computer and electronic filing standards and definitions that shall be used uniformly by every sheriff's department within the state.
(b) The commissioner may promulgate additional standards, rules and regulations for computer and electronic filing and storage of all records maintained throughout the state under this subsection (7).
(c) The jail census data must contain, at a minimum, the following:
(i) The number of individuals detained for a new offense or delinquent act.
(ii) The number of individuals detained pending trial.
(iii) The number of offenders detained for a revocation of supervision.
(iv) The average sentence length for new jail sentences by offense type.
(v) The average sentence length for offenders in jail for a probation revocation.
(vi) The average sentence length for offenders in jail for a parole revocation.
(vii) The percentage of sentences in each category offense type, including whether the offense was violent, property, drug, or public order. All drug offenses shall include the type of drug implicated in the offense, as well as type of offense, such as possession, sale or manufacture.
(viii) The average length of stay by offense type.
(ix) For individuals awaiting trial, the average length of stay from the time of arrest to the time of indictment, and from the time of indictment to trial.
(x) For each detainee:
1. Name for an adult detainee and initials for a minor detainee, sex, race and date of birth;
2. Date of arrest or detention and arresting agency;
3. Whether individual was arrested while released on any unsecured, secured appearance or secured bond;
4. Each offense charged;
5. All conditions of any release, including the amount of any unsecured, secured appearance or secured bond set by the court;
6. Date of indictment;
7. Date of arraignment;
8. Date of any guilty plea;
9. Whether each pending charge is a felony or misdemeanor;
10. Whether the detainee has been convicted;
11. If convicted, the length of the sentence imposed by the court;
12. Whether the detainee is a Mississippi Department of Corrections' inmate;
13. The jurisdiction for which the detainee is being held;
14. Whether the detainee is awaiting extradition to another jurisdiction; and
15. Whether the detainee is awaiting mental health or other medical services.
SECTION 2. Section 19-25-63, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
19-25-63. It shall be the
duty of every sheriff to keep a record, to be called the "Jail
docket," in which he shall note each warrant or mittimus by which any
person shall be received into or placed in the jail of his county, entering the
nature of the writ or warrant, by whom issued, the name, sex, race and date
of birth of the prisoner, when received, the date of the arrest and
commitment, for what crime or other cause the party is imprisoned, and on what
authority, how long the prisoner was so imprisoned, how released or discharged, * * * the warrant therefor or the receipt of the
officer of the Penitentiary when sent there, the amount of bond imposed, the
date of indictment, the date of arraignment, the date of any guilty plea, and
the date of the trial. All of said entries shall comply with the
uniform reporting standards of the Commissioner of Public Safety authorized
under Section 45-1-2 and must be full and complete, so as to give a perfect
history of each case, and must use the uniform definitions promulgated by
the Commissioner of Public Safety to increase clarity and transparency.
The record shall be kept as a public record * * * and turned over to his successor.
SECTION 3. Section 47-1-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
47-1-21. The sheriff of
each county shall keep a well-bound alphabetical jail docket that
must comply with the uniform reporting standards and definitions promulgated by
the Commissioner of Public Safety under Section 45-1-2. In it he shall
promptly enter * * * the information required by Section 45-1-2,
each day worked on the county farm, time required to be served and amount of
fine and costs and the jail fees charged against the prisoner and the date of
discharge.
The sheriff shall submit his docket to the board of supervisors at each of their regular meetings, and the same shall be examined carefully by the president of the board, and by any other members who desire to examine the same, in the presence of the board while in session.
SECTION 4. The Department of Information Technology Services, the Department of Public Safety, and the Administrative Office of Courts shall by September 1, 2021, present a report to the PEER staff recommending the most efficient and cost-effective options for implementing the uniform jail data-reporting system that is either maintained by the state and secured in the secure cloud-based servers maintained by the Department of Information Systems and the Department of Public Safety, which can be made available to the public, queried and produce reports, or is maintained by a third party with a proven propriety system that captures the data and stores it in their own secure database which can also be made available to the public, queried and produce reports.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.