This is The Marshall Project - Jackson’s newsletter, a monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Mississippi gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
In this edition, an update on the campaign finance reporting problems of federally indicted Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens. Also, the Jackson Police Department is taking steps to report crime statistics with greater transparency and a whistleblower claims a private medical care contractor is providing substandard health care in Mississippi state prisons.
– Caleb Bedillion and Daja E. Henry
Hinds County prosecutor campaign report full of errors
Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens filed his legally mandated annual disclosure of 2024 campaign donations and expenses in May, months after the January deadline. The Marshall Project - Jackson and Mississippi Today found that the report was full of errors, including reported contribution amounts that didn’t make sense and itemized lists of contributions and spending that didn’t match the final tally on the cover sheet.
Owens, a second-term prosecutor, is facing federal corruption charges involving allegations that he bribed local city officials to win support for a real estate development project concocted by undercover FBI informants. Federal authorities say the alleged scheme involved moving at least some of the money through campaign accounts. Owens, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty.
Some officials have complained for years that enforcement of the state’s campaign finance laws is ineffective.
“It’s just a mess,” said Tom Hood, executive director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission, which has limited enforcement powers.
The late filing by Owens, and the allegations in the federal indictment against him, are just the latest example of how the state’s campaign finance system has lacked accountability.
In a speech last week at the Neshoba County Fair, Secretary of State Michael Watson called for a new law to require electronic filing of campaign finance reports and stronger enforcement procedures.
Jackson Police to start reporting crime data
The Jackson Police Department is now certified to report its crime data to the FBI through the computerized National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The department will make its first data submission on Aug. 10, according to JPD spokesperson Tommie Brown. The data should be available on the Department of Public Safety’s crime statistics website.
NIBRS was started in 2021 by the FBI to track local crime statistics and trends.
As of Aug. 1, there were 199 NIBRS-certified law enforcement agencies in Mississippi. About 40% of Mississippi’s 512 law enforcement agencies do not provide their data to NIBRS. This includes police departments, sheriff’s offices and state agencies, as well as colleges and hospitals with law enforcement.
Still, there is an incomplete picture of the crime rate in Hinds County. Capitol Police and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office are not NIBRS-certified, while police departments in other jurisdictions in the county, like Byram and Edwards, are.
A state law requires all law enforcement agencies to report their data using NIBRS by Dec. 31.
Nationally, in 2024, NIBRS-certified police agencies covered about 82% of the U.S. population. Still, some states lagged. In Pennsylvania, just 11% of law enforcement agencies were NIBRS-certified.
Medical neglect allegations inside Mississippi state prisons
People incarcerated in Mississippi’s state prisons can face long delays in receiving needed medical care, alleges a former state prison official, Mississippi Today reported.
Stephanie Nowlin, a former government affairs coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, provided text messages that show state prison officials criticizing the services of VitalCore Health Strategies, which holds a contract to handle medical care at state prisons.
She alleged that incarcerated people can wait long stretches to have their medical needs evaluated or to receive care and that medical staff are often quick to describe patients as “noncompliant.”
Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican who chairs the Mississippi House Corrections Committee, has also said that health care is inadequate at state prisons.
An MDOC spokesperson told Mississippi Today that conditions inside state prisons “exceed ‘constitutional standards.’” A VitalCore spokesperson did not respond to questions from the news outlet.
Reach out to us
The Marshall Project - Jackson wants to know about deaths, injuries or mistreatment that happened in state prisons to incarcerated people or prison employees. If there’s an incident you think we should investigate, please contact us through this form or jackson@themarshallproject.org. All tips are confidential.
Also in the news
Some crime victims shut out of state compensation. States have money to help crime victims pay for medical expenses, funerals, counseling and some other costs. But in Mississippi, the state with the highest per capita homicide rate, many compensation claims are denied by the Attorney General’s Office because the victim’s own behavior allegedly contributed to the crime. Mississippi’s law regarding compensation claims is especially vague. Mississippi Today
Funding youth court. Youth courts across the state need more funding to protect vulnerable young people and prevent future incarceration, said Mississippi Supreme Court justices Jenifer Branning and Kenny Griffis in recent speeches. Griffis suggested using money from a recent settlement the state should receive as part of opioid-related litigation. Clarion Ledger
Housing uncertainty. New state laws that went on the books this summer make it a crime to camp on public property that is not intended for camping and require a permit to panhandle. In areas where scarce shelter resources are already at capacity, advocates fear that enforcement of these laws could force unhoused people into even more vulnerable situations. Roy Howard Community Journalism Center