(Photo from Rod Hickman on Facebook)
- Supporters said the bill will help Mississippi determine effective educational interventions and support systems for prisoners.
The state Senate passed a bill this week that would require the Mississippi Department of Corrections to conduct a “comprehensive study” of inmates to understand the prevalence of dyslexia among its incarcerated population.
The author of SB 2041, State Senator Rod Hickman (D), said studies have found the inmate population in Texas and Louisiana to have dyslexia at a rate around 50 percent. In the general population, dyslexia has been diagnosed in between 5 and 15 percent, “showing the extreme prevalence in the prison population,” Hickman explained.
The Mayo Clinic defines dyslexia as a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words. Also called reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.
Senator Hickman said inmates diagnosed with dyslexia are committing “crimes across the board,” but many are also “crimes of necessity.”
The bill directs the Department of Corrections to screen for dyslexia using “evidence-based tools and methods” by qualified experts in education and diagnosis. DOC would collect background information, such as the inmate’s age, gender, race, and access to prior education resources. The department would then offer an analysis of how dyslexia correlates with educational attainment, disciplinary history and recidivism rates.
During questioning on the floor, State Senator Neil Whaley (R), who voted in opposition to the bill, asked about the cost of the testing. Hickman said the online screening test would be $5 per inmate.
Supporters said the bill will help Mississippi determine effective educational interventions and support systems for prisoners. Also, a study would provide inmates with better career opportunities when they leave prison, thereby increasing public safety and reducing repeat offenses in the future.
State Senator Jeremy England (R), who supported the bill, said he hopes the legislation may lead to the state being able to direct money spent on corrections towards education to “remediate some of these very bright young children that don’t currently have that opportunity.”
“We can help individuals and save the state money,” Hickman said.
The legislation passed 37 to 14 and now will be transmitted to the House for consideration.
