House seeks transparency in MDOC spending

• Amendments to a Senate bill aim to force MDOC to rebid inmate healthcare contract.

The House submitted its position on funding the Mississippi Department of Corrections through a strike-all amendment of a Senate bill this week, which includes efforts to fix issues the Legislature sees within the agency.

Thursday morning, State Rep. Becky Currie (R) submitted the strike-all amendment to SB 3088, which sets the appropriations amount to MDOC. The amendments also includes requirements for the agency to provide the Legislature with financial reports that will establish transparency.

Currie has been vocal in this and previous sessions expressing the need that something should be done at the agency to ensure inmates are receiving proper healthcare. She also insists that the agency be more transparent in its spending. 

The total state appropriation proposed by the House to MDOC is $480.3 million.

“This bill is higher because we are paying VitalCore more money this year,” Currie described. “By contract it goes up from $124 million to $128 million and next year it’ll be $133 million.”

The bill also includes a payment to the city of Walnut Grove of $443,000 for unpaid utilities from MDOC. 

Before passage of the amended bill, State Rep. Jeffery Hullum (D) asked if the House’s version of will force the agency to pay other overdue bills MDOC has failed to settle for previously performed work, such as ambulance services.

“No sir,” Currie responded. “To be perfectly honest with you, I would be more than happy, for anybody across the state, that we look at next year paying their bills.”

A rise in prison pay is also included, to the tune of $2.2 million. Currie added that the bill is, however, removing a previous $2.4 million appropriation to MDOC that was to be used to build a system intended to lighten the load on parole officers. She said that system was never completed. 

“We gave that money to them two years in a row, and because they just didn’t want to, they didn’t do it. So, we’re going to take the money back,” Currie said. 

Her two amendments created regulations that will require the agency to submit reports to create more fiscal transparency. 

“As a condition of them being able to spend any money out of the central office, which is their pay, they will have to provide to the chairmen of the House and Senate Corrections Committee, the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committee, and the Legislative Budget Office a report of all expenditures of the Department Corrections, including but not limited to, expenditures related to the Inmate Welfare Fund and the Canteen Fund,” Currie explained, adding later that the pay being withheld focuses on MDOC administration. 

The first of those reports will be due by October 2027, with subsequent reports due the following two years. Those reports would be submitted on January 15, April 15, and July 15 of the applicable years. 

“I’m asking for three years so we can get a longer version of what we need to see,” Currie added. “Because of their using Quickbooks and Magic, you cannot figure out where they have spent the money.”

In her second amendment, MDOC, by March 1, of 2027, would need to request contract proposals for the healthcare of inmates, including allowing hospitals to submit bids. That contract would go into effect by October 1 of that same year.

“When this all goes forth, we will hopefully have a new commissioner, and a new governor and new people, hopefully we’ll be able to get these changes made,” Currie said. 

When asked if VitalCore would be able to rebid for the inmate healthcare contract, Currie responded, “Unfortunately, yes sir.”

Currie has been vocal with her concern for the health of inmates under MDOC’s care, saying that in recent weeks about eight inmates between the ages of 20-30 have passed away. She has also advocated for the establishment of Hepatitis C, HIV and women’s health programs within the prison system, which were included in separate bills that were amended last week.

The House adopted the strike-all and both amendments to SB 3088 before passing the bill by a vote of 116 to 1. It now moves back to the Senate to decide if they concur or invite conference on the matter.