MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Barnett, Simmons (12th)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 45-1-2, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO IMPLEMENT UNIFORM REPORTING STANDARDS FOR JAIL CENSUS DATA BY COUNTY SHERIFFS' DEPARTMENTS AND TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR STORING THIS DATA; TO AMEND SECTIONS 19-25-63 AND 47-1-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT JAIL DOCKETS KEPT BY COUNTY SHERIFFS COMPLY WITH UNIFORM REPORTING STANDARDS IN ORDER TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE WITH RULE 8 OF THE MISSISSIPPI RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND INCREASE CRIMINAL JUSTICE TRANSPARENCY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 45-1-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-1-2. (1) The Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety shall be the Commissioner of Public Safety.
(2) The Commissioner of Public Safety shall establish the organizational structure of the Department of Public Safety, which shall include the creation of any units necessary to implement the duties assigned to the department and consistent with specific requirements of law including, but not limited to:
(a) Office of Public Safety Planning;
(b) Office of Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol;
(c) Office of Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (to be directed by a Lieutenant Colonel of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol);
(d) Office of Forensics Laboratories, which includes the Office of the Medical Examiner;
(e) Office of Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy;
(f) Office of Support Services;
(g) Office of Narcotics, which shall be known as the Bureau of Narcotics;
(h) Office of Homeland Security; and
(i) Office of Capitol Police.
(3) The department shall be headed by a commissioner, who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The appointment of the commissioner shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commissioner shall have, at a minimum, a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
(4) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the commissioner shall appoint heads of offices, who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner. The commissioner shall have the authority to organize the offices established by subsection (2) of this section as deemed appropriate to carry out the responsibilities of the department. The commissioner may assign to the appropriate offices such powers and duties as deemed appropriate to carry out the department's lawful functions. The organization charts of the department shall be presented annually with the budget request of the Governor for review by the Legislature.
(5) The commissioner shall appoint,
from within the Department of Public Safety, a statewide safety training officer
who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner and * * * shall * * * perform public training for both law enforcement
and private persons throughout the state concerning proper emergency response to * * * those persons with mental illness,
terroristic threats or acts, domestic conflict, other conflict resolution, and such
other matters as the commissioner may direct.
(6) The commissioner shall establish within the department the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security for the purpose of seeing that the laws are faithfully executed and for the purpose of investigating cyber-related crimes and suppressing crimes of violence and acts of intimidation and terror. The commissioner is hereby authorized to employ within the Office of Homeland Security a director, investigators and other qualified personnel as he may deem necessary to make investigation of cyber-related crimes, crimes of violence and acts of terrorism or intimidation, to aid in the arrest and prosecution of persons charged with such cyber-related crimes, crimes of violence, acts of terrorism or intimidation, or threats of violence and to perform other duties as necessary to accomplish these purposes. Investigators and other law enforcement personnel employed by the commissioner shall have full power to investigate, apprehend, and arrest persons committing cyber-related crimes, acts of violence, intimidation, or terrorism anywhere in the state, and shall be vested with the power of police officers in the performance of such duties as provided herein. Such investigators and other personnel shall perform their duties under the direction of the commissioner, or his designee. The commissioner shall be authorized to offer and pay suitable rewards to other persons for aiding in such investigation and in the apprehension and conviction of persons charged with cyber-related crimes, acts of violence, or threats of violence, or intimidation, or acts of terrorism.
(7) The commissioner shall establish within the Office of Homeland Security a Mississippi Analysis and Information Center (MSAIC Fusion Center) which shall be the highest priority for the allocation of available federal resources for statewide information sharing, including the deployment of personnel and connectivity with federal data systems. Subject to appropriation therefor, the Mississippi Fusion Center shall employ three (3) regional analysts dedicated to analyzing and resolving potential threats identified by the agency's statewide social media intelligence platform and the dissemination of school safety information.
(8) (a) The commissioner of the department shall implement and maintain a publicly accessible centralized database for the storage and retrieval of real-time comprehensive jail census data, and promulgate uniform rules and regulations that do not require any information other than as required in this section, and computer and electronic filing standards and definitions that shall be used uniformly by every sheriff's department within the state.
(b) The commissioner may promulgate additional standards, rules and regulations for computer and electronic filing and storage of all records maintained throughout the state under this subsection (8). The commissioner shall not require the purchase of additional hardware or census-tracking software by any sheriff or county; the cost of any data conversion will be borne by the state. The database is to be obtained from existing jail dockets or jail census software and hardware being utilized by local sheriffs' departments before the effective date of this act.
(c) The jail census data must contain, at a minimum, for each detainee, the following:
(i) Name of an adult detainee or the initials of a minor detainee or an adult detainee detained under Section 41-31-3 or 41-21-65;
(ii) The sex, race and date of birth of the detainee;
(iii) Date of arrest or detention and arresting agency;
(iv) Each offense charged;
(v) All conditions of any release, including the amount of any unsecured, secured appearance or secured bond set by the court;
(vi) Date of indictment;
(vii) Date of arraignment;
(viii) Date of any guilty plea;
(ix) Whether each pending charge is a felony or misdemeanor;
(x) Whether the detainee is a Mississippi Department of Corrections' inmate;
(xi) The jurisdiction for which the detainee is being held;
(xii) Whether the detainee is awaiting extradition to another jurisdiction; and
(xiii) Whether the detainee is detained under Section 41-31-3 or 41-21-65.
SECTION 2. Section 19-25-63, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
19-25-63. It shall be the
duty of every sheriff to keep a record, to be called the "Jail docket,"
in which he shall note each warrant or mittimus by which any person shall be
received into or placed in the jail of his county, entering the nature of the
writ or warrant, by whom issued, the name, sex, race and date of birth
of the prisoner, when received, the date of the arrest and commitment, for what
crime or other cause the party is imprisoned, and on what authority, how long
the prisoner was so imprisoned, how released or discharged, * * * the warrant therefor or the receipt of the
officer of the Penitentiary when sent there, the amount of bond imposed, the
date of indictment, the date of arraignment, the date of any guilty plea, and
the date of the trial. All of said entries shall comply with the Uniform
Reporting Standards of the Commissioner of Public Safety authorized under
Section 45-1-2 and must be full and complete, so as to give a perfect history
of each case, and must use the uniform definitions promulgated by the
Commissioner of Public Safety to increase clarity and transparency. The
record shall be kept as a public record * * * and turned over to his successor.
SECTION 3. Section 47-1-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
47-1-21. The sheriff of
each county shall keep a well-bound alphabetical jail docket or electronic
docket that must comply with the uniform reporting standards and definitions
promulgated by the Commissioner of Public Safety under Section 45-1-2. In
it he shall promptly enter * * * the information
required by Section 45-1-2, each day worked on the county farm, time required
to be served and amount of fine and costs and the jail fees charged against the
prisoner and the date of discharge.
The sheriff shall * * * make the jail docket available
electronically or otherwise to the board of supervisors at each of their
regular meetings, and the same shall be examined carefully by the president of
the board, and by any other members who desire to examine the same, in the
presence of the board while in session.
SECTION 4. The Department of Information Technology Services, the Department of Public Safety, and the Administrative Office of Courts shall by September 1, 2022, present a report to the PEER staff recommending the most efficient and cost-effective options for implementing the uniform jail data-reporting system that is either maintained by the state and secured in the secure cloud-based servers maintained by the Department of Information Systems and the Department of Public Safety, which can be made available to the public, queried and produce reports, or is maintained by a third party with a proven propriety system that captures the data and stores it in their own secure database which can also be made available to the public, queried and produce reports.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.