Opinion ID: 1625212
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Commissioner Thigpen

Text: The Commissioner of Corrections is vested with substantial discretionary authority. Cf. Morgan v. Cook, 236 So.2d 749, 750 (Miss. 1970) (referring to superintendent under former administration structure); Bogard v. Cook, 586 F.2d 399, 412-13 (Miss. 1978) (same). The Commissioner has no authority, however, to grant or deny parole, nor does our law impose upon him any duty to recommend for or against parole. The only duty imposed on the Commissioner of Corrections, as Commissioner of Corrections, relative to parole matters is a general one found in Miss. Code Ann. § 47-5-28(d) (Supp. 1987). That section provides that the Commissioner has the duty, upon request, [to] provide the Parole Board with adequate staff and support resources necessary to conducting Parole Board business under the guidance of the administrative assistant for parole matters. Readily we see that this has nothing to do with Grantham's complaint. Grantham argues that Miss. Code Ann. § 47-7-19 (Supp. 1987) imposes a duty on the commissioner to furnish information to the Parole Board. Section 47-7-19 provides: It shall be the duty of all correctional system officials ... to furnish to the board such reports as the board shall require concerning the conduct and character of any offender in the department of corrections' custody and any other facts deemed by the board pertinent in determining whether such offender shall be paroled. If this be all, Grantham's complaint doesn't even come close to stating a claim against former Commissioner Thigpen. Her only allegation is that he failed to provide information, any duty to furnish which is negated by her subsequent allegation that the Parole Board never requested any information or report regarding Jimpson. The notion that there might be some legally sufficient causal connection between Commissioner Thigpen's failure, if any, to provide information and Grantham's injuries seems tenuous at best. In the end, we do not regard Section 47-7-19 as imposing upon the Commissioner a discretion-free informational duty. The statute seems directory, not mandatory. Affording Grantham's complaint the elasticity required in the present procedural context, we find nothing to suggest that she might be able to prove that former Commissioner Thigpen committed any intentional tort or acted substantially at variance with his authority. The Circuit Court's judgment dismissing Grantham's claim against Thigpen is affirmed.