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Legislature In Overtime, Criminal Justice Reform Top Priority by Nick Judin
change to the flag through the Legislature continue. Democratic leadership held a press conference outside the Capitol building on June 23, in the fading days of the coronavirus-extended 2020 session. “Before we leave here, we’ll be in a position to take a vote on the flag, up or down on some measure that will be able to get rid of the flag,” the House Democratic leader, Rep. Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez, stated. The coronavirus sent legislators home to shelter in place on March 18, delayed the session into the summer months and likely beyond, and obliterated state revenues, putting a pall over ambitious plans for funding initiatives like state employee pay raises. A Chance For Parole At the heart of the legislative push
for criminal-justice reform is a combined bill containing many changes to the state’s parole system, which legislative efforts in the “tough on crime” era of the 1990s heavily restricted. Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, stressed that the parole reforms would provide the opportunity for more than half of Mississippi’s 19,000 prisoners to seek parole. The bill would create two categories for parole: in the case of nonviolent offenders, incarcerated Mississippians would be eligible for parole after serving 25% of their sentence or 10 years, whichever is less. For violent offenses, parole eligibility would begin after the individual serves 50% of the sentence or 20 years in prison, whichever is less. The legislation, if successful, would also mandate prompt timelines for the
completion of parole case plans. The bill “returns our statutes to a time in Mississippi where inmates had incentives to behave,” Simmons said, adding that “this does not guarantee any release. This creates an environment of hope. It creates an environment where people are encouraged to behave in a good manner.” The criminal-justice reform omnibus bill addresses more than parole eligibility, Simmons said. “It also addresses habitual-offender reform. It looks at ways to increase access to credit reductions for good behavior. (It) tries to guarantee that a parole eligible person has their parole hearing within a reasonable time.” The Mississippi Correctional Safety and Rehabilitation Act will be the primary vehicle for the changes. SenOVERTIME, p 8
June 24 - July 7, 2020 • jfp.ms
Rep. Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, speaks to the Mississippi House of Representatives to call for an end to the state’s electoral college system, which has racist roots.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
R
ep. Willie Bailey, D-Greenville, rose to the podium above the Mississippi House of Representatives at the end of a long Tuesday on June 16. The topic of discussion was a resolution to do away with the state’s “electoral college,” adopted in 1890. The system requires candidates for statewide offices to win both the popular vote and a majority of counties in the state, a barrier erected to, in the words of Mississippi Gov. James K. Vardaman, “eliminate the n*gger from politics,” much as the U.S. electoral college was adopted to appease southern slave owners. “This whole electoral-college thing started way back after the 1890s,” Bailey said. “And it was started to prevent a Black person from ever serving in a statewide position. So it was put into law for a racial reason. We don’t want to apply a racial reason now.” Bailey advised caution to those unsure about their vote. The bill’s intent was to change statewide elections to a simple popular vote. “Don’t vote against it because you think we’re taking something from the people,” he said. Not much fanfare followed. House Speaker Philip Gunn, RClinton, took the tally: 141 for, 5 against. The resolution, which is expected to pass, is one small step toward the purging of systemic racism in Mississippi law. But changes to another relic of Mississippi’s past have been harder to come by. Efforts to change the Mississippi flag first appeared stalled out: Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann condemned the effort to a committee, which showed no intention of calling it up. “We should’ve done that years ago. That flag doesn’t represent anybody,” Bailey told the Jackson Free Press in an interview. But his faith in a legislative solution was slim. “Mark my words on that. They’re scared. There’s not gonna be change, there’s gonna be lip service. They want to get out of town,” he said. As of press time, efforts to push a
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