MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2001 Regular Session

To: County Affairs

By: Representative Ellis

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE ANY SHERIFF OR HIS DESIGNEE TO USE COUNTY PRISON LABOR TO PRESERVE AND MAINTAIN CERTAIN CEMETERIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) Any sheriff or his designee may use any person who has been convicted of a nonviolent felony and who is serving all or any part of his sentence in the county jail to clear, clean, stabilize, preserve, maintain and restore historic cemeteries that have been entered in the National Register of Historic Places or that have been designated as a historically significant abandoned cemetery by the board of trustees of the Department of Archives and History under the provision of Section 39-5-19, Mississippi Code of 1972.

(2) Prior to undertaking work on a cemetery, the sheriff or his designee shall contact the Department of Archives and History for instructions on the appropriate manner of preservation and restoration of a historical cemetery.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.