House Bill 780

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 47-5-931, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF STATE OFFENDERS FROM 250 TO 300 FOR WHICH THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MAY CONTRACT FOR THE HOUSING OF STATE OFFENDERS AT COUNTY REGIONAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 47-5-931, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-5-931. (1) The Department of Corrections, in its discretion, may contract with the board of supervisors of one or more counties and/or with a regional facility jointly operated by two (2) or three (3) counties, to provide for housing, care and control of not more than three hundred (300) offenders who are in the custody of the State of Mississippi. Any facility owned or leased by a county or counties 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. If the Department of Corrections contracts with more than one (1) county to house state offenders in county correctional facilities, excluding a regional facility, then the first of such facilities shall be constructed in Sharkey County and the second of such facilities shall be constructed in Jefferson County.

(2) The Department of Corrections shall contract with the boards of supervisors of the following counties to house state inmates in regional facilities: (a) Marion and Walthall Counties; (b) Carroll and Montgomery Counties; (c) Stone and Pearl River Counties; (d) Winston and Choctaw Counties; (e) Kemper and Neshoba Counties; (f) Holmes County and any contiguous county in which there is located an unapproved jail; and (g) Bolivar County and any contiguous county in which there is located an unapproved jail. The Department of Corrections may contract with the boards of supervisors of the following counties to house state inmates in regional facilities: (a) Yazoo County and any contiguous county, (b) Chickasaw County; and (c) George and Greene Counties. The Department of Corrections shall decide the order of priority of the counties listed in this subsection with which it will contract for the housing of state inmates. For the purposes of this subsection the term "unapproved jail" means any jail that the local grand jury determines should be condemned or has found to be of substandard condition or in need of substantial repair or reconstruction.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2004.