MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2001 Regular Session

To: Judiciary

By: Senator(s) Dawkins, Carmichael, Williamson, Michel, Hyde-Smith

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 47-5-601 AND 47-5-603, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MANDATE DRUG TESTING OF CERTAIN INMATES BEFORE AND AFTER RELEASE FROM PRISON; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 47-5-601, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-5-601. The Mississippi Department of Corrections is authorized to establish a drug identification program and shall have the power and duty to adopt rules not inconsistent with law as it may deem proper and necessary with respect to the establishment, administration and operation of the program. The department shall test each inmate for alcohol and controlled substances before release.

SECTION 2. Section 47-5-603, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-5-603. Any offender on probation or released from a facility of the Department of Corrections on parole, earned probation or earned release who remains under the supervision of the Department of Corrections or any offender who is incarcerated in a state correctional facility shall be required to participate in the Mississippi Department of Corrections drug identification program. Participation by an offender would consist of submission by the offender, from time to time and upon the request of a parole or probation supervisor, or authorized personnel of the department to any type of breath, saliva or urine chemical analysis test, the purpose of which is to detect the possible presence of alcohol or a substance prohibited or controlled by any law of the State of Mississippi or the United States.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2001.