State Rep. Kevin Horan, recently appointed chairman of the House Corrections Committee by House Speaker Philip Gunn, said he has two main focuses for legislation concerning the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The first is legislation that would allow MDOC to transition certain inmates out of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and hold them, at least temporarily, at regional centers while the infrastructure problems at Parchman are resolved, said Horan, whose district includes parts of Leflore and Carroll counties.
His second focus is to better fund re-entry programs, which help assimilate convicts back into society so they don’t end up behind bars again.
He also said, though, that he’s looking at “keeping all options on the table.”
The Grenada attorney announced earlier this month that he had left the Democratic Party to become an independent. He said Monday that he is now a Republican.
Before a bill is presented on the House floor, Gunn refers it to one of the House’s 47 committees for debate, and lawmakers consider the issues of the bills. The chairmen of the committees end up deciding which bills are debated on the floor.
As of Monday afternoon, eight bills had been referred to the Corrections Committee. Among them were a bill that would require the state Parole Board to review inmates’ history of mental illness and use of controlled substances when determining their parole and a bill that would allow MDOC to administer a grant program.
The deadline for bills to get drafted is next month, meaning there’s more time for bills to be submitted and referred to a committee.
MDOC has been in the state spotlight since late December when outbursts of violence broke out at Parchman.
Since then, at least 12 deaths have occurred in MDOC prisons, most of which have been at Parchman and have been the result of violence. Two inmates’ deaths have been reported as suicides.
Gov. Tate Reeves and interim Corrections Commissioner Tommy Taylor recently toured Parchman. The governor has said that the state will take steps to improve the living conditions within the state’s prisons.
•Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
