This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In July, the Parole Board sent a letter to Gene Bell about its decision to parole Frederick Bell because members found he had been rehabilitated. Inside Mississippis prisons, three-fourths of inmates are battling alcohol or drug problems or both. Actions, however, speak louder than words, he said. The Mississippi Parole Board is an important part of the criminal justice system. Maintains a central registry of paroled inmates. (601) 576-3520. But despite being granted parole . The incumbent reviews pertinent inmate information and prepares synopsis for the Parole Board so eligible inmates can be considered for parole in a timely manner. (10) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2018. . Code Section 47-7-5 (2), One-Pager: State of the Workforce and Project SEC, Dec. 2022: Agency Head Maximum Salaries and Elected Official Recommendations CY 2023, Dec 2021: Recruitment and Selection Training for HR Staff, Dec. 2021: Additional Revisions to the Variable Compensation Plan, Dec. 2021: Revisions to the State Employee Handbook and Policy and Procedures Manual, Oct. 2021: Variable Compensation Plan based on the implementation of Project SEC2, Sept. 2021: Pay Grades, Classification Assignments, and Preliminary Implementation Projections, Sept. 2021: Overview of the State Workforce and Project SEC Overview, Video 3: PDQ for Mississippi State Employees. Mississippi Gulf Coast native Jeffery Belk appointed by Gov. Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 4-6 years of work experience. By November 2021, the parole grant rate reached a high of 93% and the board held over 1,000 parole hearings, according to numbers from the Mississippi Department of Corrections obtained by Mississippi Today. Parole Board Chairman Jeffrey Belk discusses the role of the board in an interview with MCIR. Gov. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves today announced the appointment of Marlow Stewart to serve on the State Parole Board beginning November 1, 2021. Frederick Bell had been set to be released at the end of September. 47-7-5 through Miss. 26 Feb Feb To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). In 2015, Belk began serving as president of the board, which tried to salvage the pension system and keep the hospital open. Caring for that many more inmates would cost taxpayers an extra $51 million, based on the per-day cost computed by the states legislative watchdog. Shelby Wilson, 27, went to prison on his first offense for selling prescription drugs rather than being referred to drug court. We talked to BestReviews nutrition expert, Molly Bremer, about her favorite whole grains and how to use them. In the past 14 years and especially the past seven, I have never had an empty bed, said Executive Director Vicki DeMoney. Information you can trust. The state boasted one of the nations highest incarceration rates, putting more people per capita behind bars than China, North Korea or Russia. Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 0-3 years of related experience. With your help, we've gotten a lot done but we're not finished yet! Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 3-5 years of related experience. You have to credit Mississippi Today. There are three types of parole hearings: Institutional Hearings, Life Sentence Hearings, and Victim Access Hearings. "Theyre eligible for parole and a lot of them are due a second chance for an opportunity to get out, turn their life around and do some good.". Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 5-7 years of work experience. LISTEN HERE 00:00 01:36 A study by the Mississippi Legislative PEER Committee reports one member of the state parole board was reimbursed more than $20,000 in 2020, for commuting to Jackson. The prison population has grown and is higher than last year when parole eligibility expansion became law, according to MDOC records. In many ways, these problems are staffing problems, he said, and rising numbers of inmates will make it more and more dangerous for those who live in prisons and those who work there.. Pickett said there is no question the number one driver of inmates behind bars is drugs and addiction. Some basic types of programs are found in all facilities, such as the Alcohol and Drug Program. Parole is a common earned release opportunity offered in state prison systems across the United States, including Mississippi. He hasnt received any rules violations, according to the prison records she shared, and he has refused to join a gang, despite the fact it nearly cost him his life, she said. We are poor. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. PEER criticized the board for failing to maintain minutes documenting parole decisions. "It gives you an opportunity to help the people of Mississippi. Jackson lawyer Robert G. Parrish has handled dozens of parole cases over the last 16 years. She regularly emailed with Pickett while he chaired the Parole Board, but she said she hasnt gotten any responses from the new chairman. The Board works in conjunction with many other state agencies and agents, including parole officers. Klicken Sie auf Einstellungen verwalten um weitere Informationen zu erhalten und Ihre Einstellungen zu verwalten. The MacArthur Justice Center has heard from families about parole hearings for their loved ones being delayed four to eight years, rather than a hearing each year as the board has done in the past, Johnson said. Mina, a California native, covers the criminal justice system. I raised over $3k to help make all these things happen. Thats in contrast to more than three-fourths of the remaining states, which received flunking grades. Judgement: The Parole Board members, Lucy Gampell (left), Noreen Shami And Robert Mckeon (right) are featured in the BBC documentary. Founded in 2016 as the states first nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, Mississippi Todays roots in Capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment, equity, and, yes, sports. Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain requested and received pay raises for correctional officers, but recruiting and retaining those officers has proved a struggle. (AP Photo/File) Read Less Durch Klicken auf Alle akzeptieren erklren Sie sich damit einverstanden, dass Yahoo und unsere Partner Ihre personenbezogenen Daten verarbeiten und Technologien wie Cookies nutzen, um personalisierte Anzeigen und Inhalte zu zeigen, zur Messung von Anzeigen und Inhalten, um mehr ber die Zielgruppe zu erfahren sowie fr die Entwicklung von Produkten. In addition to the chairman, there are four other members of the Mississippi State Parole Board: Marlow Stewart, James Cooper, Anthony Smith and Betty Lou Jones. We want them to get skills and be successful.. If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using. by Trone Dowd. Prepares responses to inquiries for inmate release and may interview inmates to make recommendations. In a Monday interview with Supertalk Radio, Gene Bell said the notice of Frederick Bells release was advertised in the Clarion Ledger rather than the local paper, the Grenada Star. The PEER compliance report reviewed the laws policies governing the Parole Board and found several instances of non-compliance. Answers you need. code ann.47-7-3, has been amended many times to change and add to the statue. Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 2-4 years of related experience. Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Earned Parole Eligibility Act in April 2021, he called it a measured approach to (second) chances and said it would be a net positive for (Mississippi) with proper implementation. Those who committed a violent crime must serve half their sentence or 20 years, and people convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon, a drive-by shooting or carjacking must serve 60% of their sentence or 25 years. He faced his biggest challenge when Byrd resigned in the wake of a state and federal investigation that led to 31 charges that included fraud, extortion, embezzlement, witness tampering, perjury and using his office to retaliate against his enemies. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. "It's gut-wrenching," he said. Typically requires a Bachelor's Degree or a high school diploma and 4 years of work experience. The Life Sentence Unit (LSU . Before joining Mississippi Today, she was a reporter for the Clarion Ledger and newspapers in Massachusetts. Im going to reach out to the new chair and find out why., State Public Defender Andr de Gruy said, with the 2021 Earned Parole Act, we have a lot more people eligible. Mina, a California native, covers the criminal justice system. Currently, the State of Mississippi has a recidivism rate of more than 30%. File photo. Tate Reeves, who recently bragged about the significant reduction in inmates at Parchman, drew widespread praise last year when he signed a bipartisan bill that could extend parole eligibility to 3,000 more inmates. The clients we have represented typically have participated and excelled in multiple prison rehabilitative programs prior to being considered for release., He wonders if the board even read his last clients request: I sent it, waited six weeks to give them time to review and respond and at six weeks I sent it again just as a reminder and I got a one-sentence response that said, The Boards decision to deny parole stands., Vicki DeMoney is executive director of Crossroads Ministriesin Ridgeland., Miss. By doing this, he said, well reduce recidivism, and well reduce violence. A similar program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary saw the recidivism rate drop to less than 10%. We center readers in everything we do, informingand engagingMississippians through reporting, podcasts, events and online communities. It is a well-established principle that such boards speak only through their minutes, the report said. " Appropriately, the membership of the Task Force represents the broad spectrum of our . A retirement reception is planned for Pickett at the boards office on North Street, Suite 100A,in Jackson from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. December 29. Some people have broken into houses with guns and had all their charges dropped. Life sentences after 1995 and all sex crimes are not eligible for parole." Mississippi Gov. I did all the procurement over the $1.4 billion expansion over the unit that basically makes the product for plastics., After Hurricane Katrina devastated Mississippis Gulf Coast in 2005, Belk said he was asked to step in as chairman of the Jackson County Civil Service Commission because there was a lot of turnover in appointed committee members because of the frustration they had in dealing with [Sheriff Mike] Byrds reluctance to following Civil Service policy & procedures.. JACKSON, Miss. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. Earlier in the afternoon, Republican Gov. Bachelor's degree from an accredited 4-year college or university. Information about parole in Mississippi, including the current Parole Board Members, Parolee Search, and Victim Parole Notification. When an inmate is granted parole, he or she will enter the supervisory period and will remain under supervision until his or her maximum term expires. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. In September 2015, a federal judge ordered him to pay $260,000 in sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former deputy. That means 392 inmates like Tameka Drummer will continue serving their life without parole sentences. Make a Tax Payment. (601) 576-3528. All Rights Reserved document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. If youre not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and include our website, You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor. PEER quoted a state attorney generals opinion, which said expenses associated with an individual commuting to a workstation should not be borne by the governmental entity., Pickett said the accusations against Jones were unfair and untrue, because Jones was commuting from her home in Meridian to the office in Jackson. As the parole rate has fallen, the state is seeing its prison population increase. During his time, about six of every 10 inmates who appeared before the Parole Board earned their release, he said. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. For those wanting to send in a letter, they can be mailed to the five-member parole board at: 660 North St., Suite 100 A, Jackson MS 39202. Parole Board Members are satisfied that the individual being considered is capable of being a law-abiding and productive citizen. Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization. | 2022. After that, he aided the boards transition under the Department of Finance and Administration. I believe in second chances, he said. Belk said Reeves was referring to the December 2020 report by State Auditor Shad White and the July 2021 report by PEER on the Parole Board. Fifty dollars goes into the Community Service Revolving Fund at the state treasury to fund the supervision program, $3 goes to the Crime Victims' Compensation . Published: Dec. 1, 2022 at 11:09 AM PST. Code Ann. One member is designated by the Governor to serve as Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Division. The Board reviews cases and develops plans, stipulations, conditions and terms for release or integration for each offender. Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. OCCU: 9147 Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and USA Today. His new parole chairman is Jeffery Belk, who retired from Chevron as a project procurement manager. A revocation may happen if a person commits a new crime or fails to report to a parole officer for a certain period of time. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 0-3 years of related experience. Typically requires a Bachelors Degree and 5-7 years of work experience. (After this, lawmakers changed the statute so that Parole Board members could be reimbursed for commuting, just like lawmakers.). In the past, the board may have rejected advice by parole officers on revocation, but now were more in tune to support them, he said. May train and mentor lower level parole staff. Belk adopted the role in January, replacing Steven Pickett, who retired late last year. Between 1993 and 1995, 24 states and the federal government adopted such three-strikes-youre-out laws, but after prison overcrowding followed, the government and some states changed those statutes. Serves as Chairman of the State Parole Board. As chairman of the Parole Board, Belk faces his share of challenges, but he doesnt regard his lack of experience in corrections as a problem. Having a parole hearing every six months for someone who wasnt interested in improving themselves gave false hope to those inmates, Belk said. Petitioning the parole board each time Lisa comes up for early release takes its toll, Jeff said. Department officials say they are unable to comment on the Justice Department findings. Belk said the board has 15 to 20 parole hearings scheduled for Wednesday. She wrote board members and asked them to reconsider. A California parole board voted in 2021 to free Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, but the decision later was overturned by the governor. The incumbent reviews pertinent inmate information and prepares synopsis for the Parole Board so eligible inmates can be considered for parole in a timely manner. Journey level professional work involving the compilation and computation of parole information on inmates. Unfortunately, the rapidly declining parole grant rate is not only blunting the impact of the new law but also denying meaningful opportunities for release to those who were parole eligible before the new law, she said. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), State urged to follow Bidens lead in pardoning simple marijuana possessionoffenders, States first broadband community engagement event to address inequities in Delta, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. In so doing, the Parole Board has essentially shut down parole in the state, said Brandon Jones with the Southern Poverty Law Centers Action Fund. Mississippi is a world leader in incarceration. 0:57. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. But under Belks leadership, that trend has reversed itself. This program lasts from one to three months based on each individual offender's needs and progress. Therefore, when you say he is not ready to be a law-abiding citizen, how can you know if you dont ask him what his plans are?, Her son violated probation through marijuana use, she wrote the board. As a result, about 5,700 additional people are expected to become parole eligible within the next five years, according to an estimate in the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Forces January report. And the [victims] families were having to relive this every six months.. It is our goal for the offender to experience a . NOTE: This website is not affiliated with the United States Government or any Federal or State government agency. The state that saw rising numbers was Alaska (3.6%). It all seems so unreal and unfair. Now that theyre parole eligible, just because they missed their first parole eligibility date, doesnt mean theyre going to miss their next one if they start taking advantage of (programs), Belk said. It is to be noted that the state parole board procedures and decisions are subject to federal judicial review. The Chairman of the Parole Board, for example, together with the Director of Offender Services, will comprise a joint placement committee and may contribute to an inmate being placed into the Intensive Supervision Program, commonly called house arrest. In addition to the chairman, there are four other members of the Mississippi State Parole Board: Marlow Stewart, James Cooper, Anthony Smith and Betty Lou Jones. Email Jerry.Mitchell@MississippiCIR.org. Pay Grade: MS15. Now the board is rejecting far more requests. Jobs in this family perform professional work involving the compilation and computation of parole information on inmates. You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection. If we dont believe in grace, redemption, mercy and second chances, then we need to take In God We Trust off our flag.. Pay Grade: MS10. The board typically saw about 5,000 inmates a year. We talked to BestReviews nutrition expert Molly Bremer about how to plan meals that are healthy, satisfying and a joy to eat. We're dedicated to keeping Mississippians informed with our thorough reporting. Using our services for any unlawful purposes are strictly prohibited. Citizenship. What she finds frustrating is that the board never asked him about any of this, she said. Mississippi has clung tightly to the law, which automatically imposes a life without parole sentence in cases where someone has any prior violent felony. Whats frustrating, she said, is that since her son entered prison, he has taken all the right steps. Jeffery Belk named Mississippi Parole Board Chairman. Pay Grade: MS02. Other means of reducing sentences and receiving early paroles include Meritorious Earned Time. Social Media, please tag us in your posts using everything we do, informingand engagingMississippians through reporting,,! 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So that parole Board Members could be reimbursed for commuting, just like lawmakers. ) we want to! Attribution-Noderivatives 4.0 International License an opportunity to help make all these things.... And asked them to reconsider gotten any responses from the new chairman president of the Task Force the... Inquiries for inmate release and may interview inmates to make recommendations Board for to... `` it gives you an opportunity to help the people of Mississippi not eligible for parole. quot. Justice system on must include a contact for your organization computation of parole over!