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, our latest reporting examines how the extreme winter weather has affected people incarcerated in Mississippi prisons. Also, a look back at President John F. Kennedy’s use of the Insurrection Act during the integration of Ole Miss in 1962. And the Legislature is considering increased oversight of deaths that occur inside state prisons. – Caleb Bedillion and Daja E. Henry
Winter storms leave incarcerated people vulnerable
As extreme low temperatures sweep parts of the U.S., people in dilapidated jails and prisons face an increased risk of illness and even death.
In Mississippi, January’s winter storms knocked out power at two correctional facilities in the Delta: the Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood and the Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as Parchman. The storm impacted temperature control in the facilities as well as everyday functions.
Incarcerated people and advocates reported scarce food and water, interrupted access to medical care, and the inability to make phone calls. Advocacy organizations, including the Mississippi Impact Coalition, delivered pallets of drinking water to distribute at Parchman.
“Having a family member down there stresses me out,” said Kristi Coker, whose loved one is incarcerated at Parchman. “I’ve done a lot of praying.”
Reporters from The Marshall Project’s local news teams in Jackson, St. Louis, and Cleveland, Ohio, heard from incarcerated people and advocates about the challenges cold temperatures are creating in the wake of record lows and heavy snowfall.
The Insurrection Act in Mississippi: Ole Miss, 1962
On Sept. 30, 1962, President John F. Kennedy invoked the Insurrection Act — a rarely used executive power — to deploy 30,000 federal troops to Mississippi to stop white supremacist violence at the University of Mississippi. The riots had erupted ahead of the enrollment of James Meredith, a Black man, at the all-White public university.
Last month, President Trump threatened to use the same statute in Minneapolis for a much different reason.
The Insurrection Act has traditionally been used to stop violent uprisings and uphold civil rights when local officials obstruct them. Trump planned to use the act to suppress largely peaceful anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis.
The situations are “apples and oranges,” Meredith’s eldest son, John Meredith, told The Marshall Project - Jackson.
Reporter Daja E. Henry took a look back at the 1962 riots and how the Insurrection Act could now be used for political combat.
Prison deaths, healthcare under legislative scrutiny
A key state representative tasked with oversight of Mississippi’s notorious state prison system is advancing legislation to impose greater oversight of prison deaths.
Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, chairs the Corrections Committee in the state House of Representatives. On Monday, she brought up a bill that was approved by the committee to require that an oversight task force review unexpected deaths inside state prisons. The task force would also make recommendations about how to prevent future deaths.
This legislative action follows reporting by The Marshall Project - Jackson, Mississippi Today, Clarion Ledger, Hattiesburg American and The Mississippi Link that found dozens of prison homicides have gone unsolved and family members are often left in the dark.
“There just needs to be another set of eyes,” Currie said to Corrections committee members on Monday.
The bill still faces a long path through the Legislature. It must still be approved by the full House of Representatives before moving to the state Senate for consideration. If both chambers voted to support the legislation, the governor would have to sign it or at least not veto it.
Also in the news
Jackson police second-in-command is out. Last week, Jackson Assistant Police Chief Vincent Grizzell said he would resign rather than take a demotion to lieutenant. He alleged that unspecified “political reasons” are at play. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones is the department’s current police chief, while Mayor John Horhn is still interviewing four finalists for the job of the city’s top cop. WLBT
Keeping guns away from abusers. State Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from the Gulf Coast area, has filed a bill that would allow a judge to bar people subject to a restraining order for domestic violence from possessing guns or ammunition. The bill would also criminalize the possession of guns or ammunition by people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. Mississippi Today.
Hinds County District Attorney alleges entrapment. In a lengthy court filing, Jody Owens claimed that government agents lied, concealed evidence, and preyed on his alcoholism “to break down his resistance, overcome his reluctance, and elicit incriminating statements,” in a federal bribery sting. Owens faces eight criminal charges, including conspiracy, bribery and money laundering. Former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and former Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks are also implicated in the case. All have pleaded not guilty. Mississippi Today
Lexington adopts police reform. City officials in Lexington, Mississippi, voted to adopt federal police reform recommendations in a January Board of Aldermen meeting. The board also dismissed police chief Charles Henderson and appointed an interim leader. The city was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in 2024 that found numerous civil rights violations, including use of excessive force, unlawful searches, racial discrimination and an illegal “cash bond” scheme. Mississippi Today
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