Ep. 9 - Institutional Ego and Broken Promises in Mississippi

Seek Justice

Links

• Broken promises and lost funding: how Mississippi prison reform failed (The Guardian)

Between 1993 and 2013, Mississippi’s prison population more than quadrupled, thanks largely to mandatory minimum sentences, with the population peaking in the past decade at more than 23,000. The state had a higher per capita rate of incarceration than countries such as China or Russia.

By the time the bill became law in July 2014, the Mississippi Parole Board was paroling more offenders and had already reduced the prison population by about 2,000 inmates. Within six months, it fell even more, to below 19,000.

• Miss. locks up more per capita than China and Russia (Clarion Ledger)
• Pew predicted that by 2024 Mississippi would save $266 million (PDF) (Pew Charitable Trusts)
• Assessment platforms, discussed in detail on Ep 4 – Racial Disparity:
  • Northpointe’s COMPAS (Equivalent)
  • Ohio Risk Assessment System (NICIC)
  • Level of Service Inventory - Revised (MHS)
• Build vs. Buy (Wikipedia)
• Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting (MCIR)
• Judge Keith Starrett (Wikipedia)
• Miss. prison chief accused of bribery, money laundering (USA Today)

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps was indicted Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on charges of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud. Epps resigned from his post Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014.

• The Pew Charitable Trusts (Wikipedia)
• Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP)
• Downscaling Prisons – Lessons From Four States, 2010, by Judith Greene and Marc Mauer
• Brad Bogue, director of J-SAT (LinkedIn)
• Pew Charitable Trusts – Washington, D.C. Headquarters