Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 47 - PRISONS AND PRISONERS; PROBATION AND PAROLE (§§ 47-1-1 — 47-7-101) › Chapter 5 - CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM (§§ 47-5-1 — 47-5-1517) › JOINT STATE-COUNTY WORK PROGRAM (§§ 47-5-451 — 47-5-473) › Section 47-5-473 - [Repealed effective 7/1/2027] Pilot Work Release Program authorized in certain counties; responsibilities of sheriffs in participating counties; eligible offenders; offenders required to make certain payments from wages earned in program

(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. During the pilot phase of the program, there shall be a limit of twenty-five (25) people in the program at a time.
(2)
The sheriff shall collect and maintain data which shall be shared semiannually with the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) and the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force in sortable electronic format. The first report shall be made before January 15, 2022, and in six-month intervals thereafter. The data shall include:
(a)
Total number of participants at the beginning of each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(b)
Total number of participants at the end of each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(c)
Total number of participants who began the program in each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(d)
Total number of participants who successfully completed the program in each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(e)
Total number of participants who left the program in each month and reason for leaving by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(f)
Total number of participants who were arrested for a new criminal offense while in the program in each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(g)
Total number of participants who were convicted of a new crime while in the program in each month by race, gender, and offenses charged;
(h)
Total number of participants who completed the program and were convicted of a new crime within three (3) years of completing the program;
(i)
Total amount earned by participants and how the earnings were distributed in each month;
(j)
Results of any initial risk and needs assessments conducted on each participant by race, gender, and offenses charged; and
(k)
Any other data or information as requested by the task force.
(3)
Any person who has been sentenced to confinement in jail or who has been sentenced for a felony conviction but is confined in a jail may request assignment to the work release program established under this section. Admission to the program shall be in the discretion of the sheriff. The sheriff may further authorize the offender to participate in educational or other rehabilitative programs designed to supplement his work release employment or to prepare the person for successful reentry. No offender shall be eligible for this program if he or she has more than one (1) year remaining on his or her sentence.
(4)
The sheriff shall adopt and publish rules and regulations prior to accepting inmates. These rules and regulations shall at a minimum include all requirements for work release programs established pursuant to Sections
47-5-451
through
47-5-471
. Participating employers shall pay no less than the prevailing wage for the position and shall under no circumstance pay less than the federal minimum wage.
(5)
Any offender assigned to such a program by the sheriff who, without proper authority or just cause, leaves the area to which he has been assigned to work or attend educational or other rehabilitative programs, or leaves the vehicle or route of travel involved in his or her going to or returning from such place, will be guilty of escape as provided in Section
97-9-49
. An offender who is found guilty under this section shall be ineligible for further participation in a work release program during his or her current term of confinement.
(6)
(a)
The offender shall maintain an account through a local financial institution and shall provide a copy of a check stub to the sheriff.
(b)
The offender shall be required:
(i)
To pay twenty-five percent (25%) of his or her wages after mandatory deductions for the following purposes:
(1.)
To pay support of dependents or to the Mississippi Department of Human Services on behalf of dependents as may be ordered by a judge of competent jurisdiction; and
(2.)
To pay any fines, restitution, or costs as ordered by the court to include any fines and fees associated with obtaining a valid driver's license upon release.
(ii)
To pay fifteen percent (15%) of the offender's wages to the sheriff's department for administrative expenses to include transportation costs.
(iii)
To save fifty percent (50%) of the offender's wages in the account required under paragraph (a) of this subsection. Monies under this subparagraph shall be made available to the offender upon parole or release.
(c)
The offender shall have access to the remaining ten percent (10%) of the monies in his or her account to purchase incidental expenses.
(d)
Any monies remaining under paragraph (a) of this subsection after all mandatory deductions are paid, shall be deposited in the inmate's account established under this subsection. Any monies remaining upon release in paragraph (c) of this subsection shall be released to the inmate.
(7)
The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) shall conduct a review of the work release program established under this section and beginning in 2024 produce an annual report due December 1 each year to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the program. The PEER Committee shall seek the assistance of the Corrections and Criminal Justice Task Force and may seek assistance from any other criminal justice experts it deems necessary during its review.
(8)
This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2027.
Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 464, SB 2445,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2024.
Codified and amended by Laws, 2022, ch. 393, HB 586,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2022.