“Mississippi could prosper better if they weren't paying for all these people in prison.”
On top of these extreme sentences, people can have extra years, decades, or even life imprisonment added to their sentences if they have previous convictions. When Paul was convicted of a minor drug offense, prosecutors used two old offenses, driven by his decades-long struggle with addiction, to sentence him to 60 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
As a result of these harmful laws, Mississippi currently has the third highest imprisonment rate in the country, and there are thousands of people — like Paul — serving extreme sentences due to the state’s habitual laws.
Habitual penalties have landed Mississippi in an incarceration crisis. And #WeAllPay. Please share the Houser’s story and learn more at www.FWD.us/WeAllPay.
Paul Houser's son, Dusty (Left), and grandson Kyler (right).
