House Bill 1138

(As Passed the House)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 47-5-943, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE FROM 500 TO 700 THE NUMBER OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR WHOM THE DEPARTMENT CAN CONTRACT WITH THE WALNUT GROVE CORRECTIONAL AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR HOUSING, CARE AND CONTROL IN THE CUSTODY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 47-5-943, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-5-943. The Mississippi Department of Corrections shall contract with the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority or the governing authorities of the Municipality of Walnut Grove, Leake County, Mississippi, to provide for the private housing, care and control of seven hundred (700) juvenile offenders who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections at a maximum security facility in Walnut Grove; the department also may contract with such authority or governing authorities for the housing at the Walnut Grove facility of an additional two hundred fifty (250) juvenile offenders in the department's custody. The maximum age of any offender housed in this facility shall be twenty (20) years. A county or circuit judge shall not order any juvenile to be housed in the correctional facility authorized in Sections 47-5-943 through 47-5-953. Commitment of juvenile offenders shall not be to this facility, but shall be to the jurisdiction of the department. The commissioner shall assign newly sentenced offenders to an appropriate facility consistent with public safety. Any facility owned or leased by the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority or the Municipality of Walnut Grove 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. The contract must comply with Sections 47-5-1211 through 47-5-1227.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2003.