House Bill 1442

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 47-1-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT ANY CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES FOR THE HOUSING OF MUNICIPAL PRISONERS IN COUNTY JAILS MUST REQUIRE THAT UNTIL A PRISONER IS INDICTED, THE EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CARE OF THE PRISONER SHALL BE PAID BY THE MUNICIPALITY; TO AMEND SECTIONS 47-1-57 AND 47-1-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 47-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-1-39. (1) (a) The governing authorities of municipalities shall have the power to construct and maintain a municipal prison, and to regulate the keeping of the * * *~~same~~ prison and the prisoners therein, and to contract with the board of supervisors, which is empowered in the premises, for the use of the county jail by the municipality * * *~~;and to~~. All contracts entered in, as authorized under this paragraph, shall provide that when a municipality arrests an individual and the individual becomes a prisoner, the costs associated with the prisoner shall be the responsibility of the municipality until the prisoner is indicted.

(b) The governing authorities of a municipality may also contract with the board of supervisors to provide for the working of the streets by municipal prisoners, and to contract with the county for such work by county prisoners or the working of county roads by municipal prisoners, or for working same on the county farms. Municipal prisoners shall be worked on county roads or county farms only in the county in which the municipality is situated. Males and females shall be confined in separate cells or compartments.

(2) The municipality shall pay the tuition, living and travel expenses incurred by a person attending and participating in the basic and continuing education courses for jail officers.

SECTION 2. Section 47-1-57, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-1-57. (1) When any person confined in jail shall be in need of medical or surgical aid, the sheriff shall immediately examine the condition of such prisoner and, if he is of the opinion that the prisoner needs such aid, he shall call in a nurse or physician to attend him. If the prisoner be unable to pay the cost, the account of the nurse or physician, when allowed and certified as required in respect to accounts of sheriffs for keeping prisoners, shall be paid, in like manner, out of the treasury of the county in which a prisoner is charged with the crime for which he is imprisoned * * *. ; however, if the prisoner is a municipal prisoner and is being housed pursuant to a contract entered in as prescribed under Section 47-1-39, and the prisoner has not been indicted, then the cost shall be paid by the municipality. The board of supervisors may contract with a physician for the jail by the year.

(2) The board of supervisors of any county may authorize the sheriff to establish a program under which prisoners expressing the need for nonemergency medical attention will have access to a registered nurse who will evaluate their condition and determine the necessity for treatment by a physician. Charges for such a visit with a registered nurse shall be paid by the prisoner by deductions made by the sheriff out of any funds of the prisoner held by the sheriff or in any other manner satisfactory to the sheriff; however, such prisoner shall not be required to pay out of funds of the prisoner held by the sheriff, more than Ten Dollars ($10.00) per visit. If the prisoner is unable to pay the cost, the cost shall be paid out of the county treasury in the same manner as provided for payment of other medical costs in subsection (1) of this section.

SECTION 3. Section 47-1-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-1-59. (1) When the sheriff, marshal or any other peace officer of this state has in his lawful custody a prisoner who, through accident, injury or illness, is in need of hospitalization, such officer may take such prisoner to the nearest hospital in the county or if there be no hospital in that county, to the nearest hospital in an adjacent county and if upon arrival at such hospital any physician licensed to practice medicine in this state certifies that in his opinion such prisoner is in need of hospitalization, such prisoner shall be hospitalized in such hospital for as long as in the opinion of such physician it is necessary to so hospitalize such prisoner. If, in the opinion of the sheriff or other peace officer having custody of such prisoner at the time he is delivered to the aforesaid hospital, or in the opinion of the director of the university hospital if the prisoner be brought to that institution, it is necessary that he be placed under guard while a patient at such hospital, the sheriff of the county in which the crime he was placed in custody for committing was alleged to have taken place, shall furnish the aforesaid guard. When the aforesaid physician or other reputable physician shall certify that hospitalization no longer is needed, the prisoner shall be returned to the original place of detention.

(2) Except as provided under Section 47-1-39(1)(a), the actual expense of guarding the prisoner in the hospital shall be paid out of the general funds of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested. The expense contracted incident to the hospitalization * * *~~aforesaid~~ shall be paid by the prisoner; otherwise he may be hospitalized as a state aid patient. However, if the prisoner is ineligible for state aid or the amount available for hospitalization as a state aid patient is inadequate to pay all such hospital expense of a prisoner who is financially unable to pay his own expenses, the board of supervisors of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested shall, upon presentation of the certificate of the physician certifying that * * *~~said~~ the prisoner was in need of hospitalization, pay, except as provided under Section 47-1-39(1)(a), from the general funds of the county the reasonable and customary charges for such services or as much thereof as is not paid by state aid. Any such payment to a hospital shall be discretionary with the board of supervisors if its county supports the hospital involved by a special tax levy for its operation and maintenance.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.