Mississippi Corrections Task Force Close To Sweeping Reform Recommendation

Mississippi Corrections Task Force Close To Sweeping Reform Recommendation

A task force charged with remaking Mississippi corrections system is close to a wide ranging set of recommended reforms. As MPB’s Jeffrey Hess reports the Corrections and Criminal Justice task force is looking at comprehensive changes.

According to Corrections commissioner Chris Epps, who is leading the taskforce, the prison population will grow by 10-percent over the next ten years and cost the state over 200-million dollars in the next ten years unless the existing law is changed.

Epps says it has become increasingly clear that continued growth of inmates is unsustainable.

“It is nothing to be proud about being number two or three for first for incarceration. So what will happen is it will get us off the list and stop the growth,” Epps said.

The task force is considering changing drug sentencing laws, crafting more clearly defined prison sentences, and reforming the parole and prisoner release program.

MPB
12/04