John was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, a nonviolent offense, and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. More than half the women in our Mississippi prisons are serving sentences for drugs or other non-violent crimes. Map & Directions [+]. The court held in 2015 that the definition was unconstitutionally vague, as it is left uncertain how to estimate risk of a crime and how much risk would be necessary for the label to apply, according to the petition. Overcrowding in prison systems is synonymous with human rights violations. 2795 came too late to save the dozens of people who were not eligible for parole and died in prison since legislators started working on these reforms. It will take effect on July 1. lawmakers must continue to work on changing the states harsh habitual sentencing laws, further safely reducing Mississippis prison population, and strengthening families and communities across our state., I dont know all the facts of the case, but I am not considering pardoning her or anyone else at this time,. Mississippis U.S. House delegation, which was made up of five Democrats at the time, split on the 1994 bill, with two members voting for it and three against. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. FWD.us agreed that there is much more work to do. This is important for habitual drug offenders. Two Mississippi state senators and four state representatives filed 13 bills in the 2022 legislative session to reform the habitual offenders laws in the state: Sens. But What Comes Next? A Mississippi man will continue to serve a life sentence for a pot bust after a court upheld the lengthy term. I dont believe I deserve to be thrown away in prison and left in here to die, she said. , making early release possible for thousands of non-habitual offenders. Under these laws, many residents end up serving long sentences for non-violent crimes such as drug possession. Latino did not address the ruling specifically, but said he believes Mississippi will need to make changes to the way it handles juvenile justice issues moving forward in order to avoid federal intervention. Im just a firm believer that the penalty for committing crimes should correspond with the crime that you committed, Clark told the Mississippi Free Press. Does that make us any safer? Only one of the bills made it past the committee levelBains House Bill 981. Reeves suggested he may not support future efforts if they include relaxing habitual offender laws. mississippi legislature. All rights reserved. The new law provides that avenue for leniency by permitting non-violent habitual offenders to petition the sentencing judge for parole eligibility after serving a quarter of their sentence. S.B. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Copyright 2021 WLBT. Bill Text: MS HB1024 | 2020 | Regular Session - LegiScan 39110 But lawmakers opted for the narrower reforms this year after Gov. This story has been shared 223,578 times. When Williams came back, joined Hollins in the vehicle and sat on the passengers side, the law-enforcement officers immediately arrested both men.

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