JACKSON, MS – FWD.us Mississippi State Director Alesha Judkins issued the following statement today following the Mississippi Legislature’s floor deadline:

“We are deeply concerned that the Senate advanced both SB 2174 and SB 2175, which would needlessly increase the state’s already high prison population by imposing harmful one-size-fits-all sentencing on individuals that do not improve public safety. We urge lawmakers to reject legislation creating mandatory minimum sentences, which would burden Mississippi taxpayers with huge costs, and instead continue to focus on improving public safety by advancing bills out of the House and Senate that would ensure parole eligibility continues – including SB 2445, SB 2448, HB 755, and HB 1454.

“Mississippi’s elected leaders must continue to follow the data and listen to the nearly 90% of voters who support safely reducing the state’s highest-in-the-nation imprisonment rate. Decades of research makes clear increasing incarceration is the most expensive and least effective path to getting us there.

“It is vital that elected leaders continue parole eligibility without a repealer, and continue to focus on proven, data-driven strategies that actually keep us safe.”