Bill > SB3088

This bill appropriates funds for the support and maintenance of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2027, totaling over $466 million from both the State General Fund and special funds. It outlines specific allocations for various departmental functions, including central office operations, farming operations, the parole board, private prisons, medical services, regional facilities, community corrections, local confinement, and specific correctional facilities like Parchman and South Mississippi Correctional. The bill also details authorized headcount for permanent and time-limited positions, sets limits on expenditures for "Personal Services" (salaries, wages, and fringe benefits), and defines "Vacancy Funding" as funds for approved but unfilled positions. Furthermore, it grants the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections authority to transfer up to 25% of authorized budgets between positions and funds with justification, mandates reporting on performance measures, and establishes rules regarding personnel housing, rent collection, and utility payments. The bill also addresses payment for court-ordered attorney fees, prohibits payment to individuals barred from employment, requires prisoners at Parchman to work a minimum of eight hours daily, sets per diem rates for regional facilities, regulates medical service payments, requires reporting on clawed-back funds, allocates funds for medical contract monitoring, allows for special fund transfers, prioritizes purchases from Mississippi Industries for the Blind, earmarks funds for the Inmate Welfare Fund and Inmate Incentive to Work Program Fund, mandates specific accounting and personnel record-keeping, grants authority to amend lease and inmate housing agreements for up to ten years, and outlines reimbursement procedures for county jails and municipalities for housing offenders, with specific limits and conditions. Finally, it reappropriates funds for an Offender Tracking System and specifies that the act takes effect on July 1, 2026, and is repealed on June 30, 2026.

Budget and Finance

https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/SB/SB3088.xml