The effects of signed law Mississippi House Bill 585 was debated at Monday’s Lauderdale County Council of Governments (COG) meeting.

    Mississippi House Speaker Pro-Tempore Greg Snowden said the law signed by state Gov. Phil Byrant on March 31, 2014, has had the desired effect of making Mississippi’s criminal justice system less expensive, more efficient and less crowded, and will save the state nearly $265 million over the next decade.

    The downside to the law is the reduction of labor done from a dwindling pool of Mississippi Department of Correction inmates housed in county prisons, like the Lauderdale County Detention Center. These inmates are responsible for highway clean up and many other functions, including preparing meals at the detention center.

    Snowden told the COG members that inmate reductions are a big part of the law’s effect.

    “There are fewer state prisoners, some 5,000 fewer, because of House Bill 585,” Snowden said. “Many of those who have been released were for technical violations. The violent criminals are staying in.”

    Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie attended a law enforcement conference last week in Biloxi and said MDOC Commissioner Marshall L. Fisher said the Mississippi law was modeled after one passed in Texas, but added that there were already 5,000 fewer prisoners in the state system before House Bill 585 was passed.

    Sollie said he did not like that criminals won’t get punished for what is now been listed as less severe crimes.

    “Some take on the mentality that with 585, the DA (district attorney) will take a plea, knowing the guy will mess up again,” Sollie said. “Another take is we’re releasing people a jury has said are guilty and they should be in jail, but now with this (law), maybe you shouldn’t be and we’ll turn you loose. That’s 5,000 more opportunities for someone to be a victim.”

    Snowden responded saying 40 percent of the MDOC inmates were not there for new crimes but for technical violations, and that they were eligible to be released. He said the new law puts that decision on judges, not the MDOC.

    “It takes the pressure off the MDOC – who were making some of those decisions – and it’s put back on judges and prosecutors, where it belongs,” Snowden said.

    One provision of the law increased the minimum amount of property or money stolen needed to trigger a felony charge of grand larceny from $500 to $1,000. It also reduces punishments for probation violaters and reduces some drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

    Lauderdale County District Attorney Bilbo Mitchell came out against the law in a statement back in September.

    “I don’t think it is a good law because it reduces the penalties in so many cases, because it restricts us on being able to revoke people’s probation,” Mitchell said. “There’s a bunch of cases that don’t even come to us because they’re misdemeanors now.”

    Lauderdale County Administrator David Engel’s concern was over the loss of inmate labor and how it will effect the county’s upcoming budget.

    “From the numbers we’ve gone over, the loss of labor from state inmates will make about a $500,000 negative impact on the budget,” Engel said. “These inmates pick up our litter, prepare our food for the jail and we use others as runners for other departments. I don’t think we’ll lose all of it. The state might pick up some medical expenses, but we do expect to lose funds from the state, probably more than half of that $500,000 figure.”

    Sollie noted that Fisher told law enforcement officers that counties like Lauderdale will be the last to see the state inmates depart, because of the location of its main work center in Noxubee County.

    “The good news for us is that we will be among the last ones to get closed,” Sollie said. “There are 30 joint county/state centers and they will be the first to close. There are 17 city/county work centers that adjoin neighboring counties and they would be the next to close. The last will be those counties where the center is not in a neighboring county, and Noxubee is not neighbor to us.”