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- Email notifications could be sent automatically through the existing Mississippi Electronic Courts system at no additional costs.
In an effort to alert bail bondsmen to the fact their client failed to show for court in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, a committee in the Legislature is considering a shift away from using certified mail to instead using emails through Mississippi Electronic Courts.
On Tuesday, the Joint Bench Warrant Task Force held a meeting to discuss a path toward forming such a statewide system for circuit courts.
Currently, each of Mississippi’s 82 counties use various methods to alert bail bondsmen that their client was absent from court, including certified mail. That process can take a month or more before the bonding company is notified in some instances, Mike Morrison, owner of a bonding company with about 900 agents, told the committee.
Morrison suggested using MEC’s email system to send those notifications automatically.
Such a system is currently in use in the Fifteenth Circuit Court District where committee member Judge Brad Touchstone serves.
“We have to change two statutes to make this compliant. Again, working with Judge Touchstone, we tried to think of every scenario to make this work on the first time. We don’t want to have to come back and bother the Legislature,” Morrison explained.
Changing to that method would provide clerks with the ability to update the MEC system of a defendant’s status as court proceedings are taking place, potentially notifying the bonding agent much sooner.
“The bail bonding company would have almost instantaneous notification, or by the end of the day or by the following morning, that our client failed to appear,” Morrison said.
Quick turnaround times will also allow the bonding agent to determine if a clerical error was involved and avoid the issuance of a bench warrant.
MEC Director Nathan Evans said that use of the email system is already present within MEC, meaning there would be no cost of implementation. Clerks will still have the option to use certified mail should they choose.
Certified mail is not only slower than email, it is a costly method of notification in both funds and manpower, the committee was told.
“This gets the county out from having to spend thousands of dollars on mail that could be delivered instantly with an email with the system the state has invested a lot of money in,” Touchstone explained.
Marion County Circuit Clerk Janette Nolan said the clerks she knows support moving to the MEC email system, especially since it would reduce the need for staff to create, copy and send certified mail notifications.
Some of the issues that need to be addressed include providing an easy way for bail bondsmen to update their email address system wide as well as determining how many working days the judge has to sign the order and time the clerk has to send the notification.
Current state statute says clerks have 10 working days to send a notification after the judge signs the order. State Rep. Kevin Horan (R) suggested adding language that puts a 10 working day deadline for the judge to sign those orders, for a total of 20 working days.
Tuesday’s discussion was meant to lay the groundwork as the Legislature prepares for the 2027 session as lawmakers consider possible legislation to be filed come January.
