Sid Salter: Mississippi needs more prison reform
Bryant recently vetoed House Bill 1033 — which provided that an offender’s failure to pay fines or fees because of indigence could not be grounds for incarceration — over a typo that authors of the bill dismissed as relatively insignificant but that Bryant argued gave habitual offenders unintended benefits. Surely, lawmakers will fast-track a correction to that otherwise very progressive and fiscally wise legislation.
Other nearby states — including Georgia and Louisiana — are looking at ways to reduce the amount of time offenders spend on probation or parole after they have served their prison sentences as a means of reducing the cost of corrections. Mississippi currently has just 33,000 offenders on parole or probation.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Clarion Ledger
4/30/17
Magnolia Tribune
