Title 47, Prisons and Prisoners; Probation and Parole

Upon written request by a majority of the board of supervisors of any county, the Commissioner of Corrections may authorize offenders committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections to clean abandoned or neglected cemeteries of the county or clean public roads of the co…

Each county board of supervisors electing to establish a work program under Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 shall adopt regulations and policies as authorized by the Department of Corrections for joint state-county work programs, including extending the limits of the place of …

Any county board of supervisors establishing a work program pursuant to Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 may also establish a work camp to be used in carrying out the program, wherein inmates participating in the program may be housed.

The willful failure of an inmate to remain within the extended limits of his confinement or to return to the place of confinement within the time prescribed shall be deemed an escape from a state penal institution and shall be punishable accordingly.

(1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, the State Department of Corrections and the county board of supervisors shall endeavor to secure public service work or private paid employment for eligible inmates under Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469, subject …

State inmates performing public service work or private paid employment under Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 shall be eligible for earned time credit allowances in the same manner as other inmates confined or detained in state prisons or other state correctional facilities.

The Commissioner of Corrections may institute a procedure for granting passes and leaves to inmates participating under Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469, and may grant such passes or leaves in deserving cases, not to exceed three (3) days or seventy-two (72) hours.

No inmate granted privileges under Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 shall be deemed to be an agent, employee or involuntary servant of the Department of Corrections, any county board of supervisors, the state or any political subdivision thereof, while involved in the free comm…

The Commissioner of Corrections may designate any employee of the department to do and perform for the department any act or function which Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 empower the department to do or perform.

The provisions of Sections 47-5-451 through 47-5-469 of this chapter are cumulative and shall not be construed to repeal or supersede any laws directly inconsistent herewith; and it is specifically provided herein that any work program in operation or functioning pursuant to any …

It shall be unlawful for any person related by affinity or consanguinity within the third degree computed according to the rules of the civil law to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or commissioner to accept any employment in the state correctional system, neither shall the comm…

(1) The Sheriffs of Rankin County, Harrison County, Lee County and Hinds County are authorized to establish a Pilot Work Release Program. No person sentenced for a crime listed in Section 97-3-2 shall be eligible for participation in the program established under this section. Du…

Neither the commissioner nor any other employee, save physicians and chaplains not employed for all their time, shall have or engage in any other business during his normal hours of employment that may require his personal attention or time. The Governor, in the case of the commi…

The commissioner, as soon as possible after passage of this section, shall prepare a plan to bring about the limited centralization of facilities within the state correctional system grounds at Parchman, Mississippi. The commissioner is authorized and empowered to use any state f…

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, it is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature to provide vocational education and training for offenders in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and simultaneously reimburse the state for the expens…

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, the Department of Economic Development, and the Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service shall collaborate with the Department of Corrections in an initial evaluation of viable industries and businesses readi…

The participating industry or business shall be responsible for providing the offenders with any vocational education or training necessary for employment. Upon an offender’s release from custody, the participating industry or business may offer such offender a similar employment…

The department of corrections shall at all times be responsible for the security of the facility being used for the operation or project. No offender granted privileges under the provisions of Section 47-5-501 et seq. shall be deemed to be an agent, employee, or involuntary serva…

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, proceeds of funds paid by industries or businesses participating in the correctional industries work program shall be paid into the special fund in the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of Corrections for the operatin…

(1) The Department of Corrections shall establish work training programs in conjunction with private industry to provide training to offenders in those trades in which there is a shortage of workers. (2) The commissioner may cooperate with private industry for the establishment o…

The Department of Corrections shall contract with the Department of Economic and Community Development for a training and work program for inmates to perform data processing entry at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

Sections 47-5-531 through 47-5-575 shall be known as the “Mississippi Prison Industries Act of 1990.”

(1) It is the finding of the Legislature that prison industry programs of the State Department of Corrections are uniquely different from other programs operated or conducted by other departments in that it is essential to the state that the prison industry programs provide inmat…

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, it is the intent of the Legislature that a nonprofit corporation be organized and formed, within sixty (60) days from April 4, 1990, to lease and manage the prison industry programs of the Mississippi Correctional Industries. …

The Secretary of State, or his designee, shall assist the Department of Corrections and the Department of Finance and Administration in the formation of the nonprofit corporation, and within sixty (60) days after the formation of the corporation, the corporation shall apply for e…

(a) For the purposes of Sections 47-5-531 through 47-5-575, the following terms shall have the following meaning unless the context shall provide otherwise:(a) “Chief executive officer” means the chief executive officer of the corporation established under this chapter.(b) “Corpo…

Employees assigned to the canine unit of the department may, upon request, assist law enforcement agencies by using specially trained dogs in any matter relating to the tracking, discovery or capture of any person in the enforcement of criminal statutes pertaining to the possessi…

(1) The corporation shall be governed by a board of directors. The terms of the board of directors in place before July 1, 2022, shall expire June 30, 2022. From and after July 1, 2022, the board of directors of the nonprofit corporation shall be composed of the following five (5…

(1) Within sixty (60) days after the formation of the corporation pursuant to the provisions of Section 47-5-535, the State Department of Corrections shall lease to the corporation all existing prison industries including the buildings, land, furnishings, equipment and other chat…

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, after the commissioning and implementation of a marketing feasibility study for any proposed new prison industry, the corporation may establish such prison industry. Before any new industry is established, the corporation shall ho…

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, any training program or auxiliary program associated with any existing prison industry shall be transferred to the corporation. The corporation is empowered and authorized to establish in participation with any community or ju…

Any service or item manufactured, processed, grown or produced by the corporation from its prison industries may be furnished or sold to any legislative, executive or judicial branch of the state, any political subdivision or any governing authority of the state, any other state,…

The officers and employees of the state correctional system are exempt from jury service.

In the event the corporation is dissolved or its lease of any prison industry program expires or is otherwise terminated, all property relating to such prison industry program which ceases to function because of such termination or dissolution, including all funds, buildings, lan…

Before any prison industry may commence operations, the chief executive officer of the corporation must communicate with the Commissioner of Corrections regarding the proper security for the facility. If at anytime the Commissioner of Corrections recognizes a need for improvement…

The department shall, subject to the necessary security requirements and the needs of the corporation, provide to the corporation sufficient inmate labor for the various prison industry programs. The department may adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary to govern the use…

Any inmate who performs work for the corporation, except those inmates employed by the corporation in the Prison Industry Enhancement Program under Section 47-5-1251, shall not be deemed an agent, employee or involuntary servant of the corporation while performing such work or wh…

The corporation shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1 of each year, a report on the status of the correctional work programs, including, but not limited to, the programs and funds which have been transferred to the corporation, the programs and …

The department shall lease to the Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks for a period of twenty (20) years all timberlands in Quitman County for an annual rental of One Dollar ($1.00). The lands so leased to the Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and P…

(1) In addition to its other powers, the corporation shall have the power to request, through the department, an appropriation of general revenue funds for the purposes of operation of, addition to or renovation of facilities or correctional work programs at the various correctio…

(1) The department may adopt such rules as may be necessary to govern the use of inmates by the corporation; however, such rules shall be related only to the need for security, inmate projections, and efficient operation of each institution. (2) The corporation, with the input of…

To carry out the provisions of Sections 47-5-531 through 47-5-575, the provisions of Sections 47-5-301 et seq., and 47-5-501 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, the corporation shall authorize the transfer and expending of monies from the Prison Industries Fund.

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, no inmate shall be eligible for unemployment compensation or workmen’s compensation whether employed by the corporation or by any other private enterprise operating on the grounds of a correctional institution or elsewhere where s…

(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, if the department leases a single correctional work program at any correctional institution to the corporation, the corporation shall lease all such correctional work programs at that institution. Any rent paid by the corporat…

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, no goods, wares, services or merchandise manufactured, mined or offered in whole or in part by prisoners shall be sold or offered by any person or other authority except by the corporation, as authorized by Sections 47-5-531 throu…

(1) In adopting or modifying master plans for correctional work programs, and in the administration of the Department of Corrections, it shall be the objective of the department to develop a logical sequence of vocational training, employment by correctional work programs, and po…