Sunshine Week begins March 15, 2026. The nationwide, nonpartisan initiative promotes the importance of open government and the public’s right to access public records.
The Marshall Project - Jackson’s ongoing investigation into homicides inside Mississippi’s prisons shines a light on how infrequently someone is held accountable for the deaths, and how little family members actually learn about their loved ones’ last moments.
Using public records as our guide, we were able to quantify the magnitude of prison deaths instead of relying on narratives from state officials that often failed to tell the full story.
We also helped some families get closure after they had lost hope that they would ever learn the truth from government officials.
That is the heart of Mississippi’s Public Records Act. Without it, the public is left with silence, or a narrative curated by the very institutions under scrutiny.
And that is also one of the core functions of the First Amendment: to prevent the government from censoring information officials don’t want you to see.
For more than a year, our team of Daja E. Henry and Caleb Bedillion, along with reporting partners from Mississippi Today, the Clarion Ledger, Hattiesburg American and The Mississippi Link, reviewed documents and interviewed dozens of people to accurately portray what happens — or doesn’t happen — when someone is killed in jail or prison.
In October, just after our series began publishing, Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain said his department will review all unprosecuted homicides and deaths ruled to be of undetermined causes back to 2015.
The Marshall Project’s local mission is to create and sustain a sense of urgency around the local criminal justice system and to ensure that marginalized communities have their stories told. Public records make that possible.
Government agencies often argue that withholding records protects investigations, personal privacy or security. Sometimes those concerns are legitimate. Too often, though, we have seen that investigative exemption stretched beyond recognition. During the prison homicides project, requests for basic incident reports were initially denied under that exemption. We pushed back, and we won.
In other reporting, courts have cited investigative exemptions to withhold search warrant documents — even though legal experts say that exemption does not apply to court records. Some courts have failed to retain required warrant documents at all. A separate investigation into jail deaths relied heavily on federal Death in Custody Reporting Act data to show that the state long failed to properly report jail deaths as required by law. After our scrutiny, new records show that the state’s reporting has markedly improved.
The delays in getting information can stretch for months, even years. We filed an ethics complaint against Hinds County that is still pending over a July 2025 records request. We’re still waiting for Harrison County to provide 911 dispatch logs requested in early 2024.
Records matter because they move systems.
That access, though, is not guaranteed. The Mississippi Press Association identified two bills this legislative session that would have further narrowed the public’s right to know. One proposal would have exempted certain bridge and roadway safety records following a dispute over access to Mississippi Department of Transportation documents. Another would have broadly expanded the government’s ability to remove identifying information about public officials. Both bills died in this session, but similar actions are always at risk whenever lawmakers meet. While privacy concerns can be valid, Mississippi Press Association Executive Director Layne Bruce says, overly broad legal language risks allowing agencies to black out far more details than necessary.
Retired attorney Leonard Van Slyke, who has practiced media law in Mississippi for decades, called access to public records tremendously important.
“The public body acts on behalf of the taxpayers, and the citizens need to know what’s going on in their government,” he told me recently.
Mississippi’s Public Records Act became law in 1983 as a recognition that government records belong to the public. Over the decades, it has been amended many times — some changes strengthening accountability, others carving out new exemptions. The creation of the Mississippi Ethics Commission gave requesters a clearer path for challenging denials, even if the process can be slow and underresourced. At the same time, exemptions have accumulated. Each one may seem minor. Taken together, they narrow the public’s window into government.
Van Slyke put it plainly: We have to be ever vigilant.
So here is the challenge.
To journalists: Fight for the records. Push back on improper exemptions. Appeal when necessary. The delays are frustrating, the process can be slow, but the work is essential.
To residents: When reporters file records requests, we are fighting for your right to know. Pay attention to proposed changes in the law. Support transparency efforts. Ask questions of your local officials.
To government leaders: Public records are not weapons. They are tools of accountability in a democracy. Transparency may be uncomfortable, but secrecy erodes trust far faster than disclosure ever could.
The stories contained in public records belong to the people of Mississippi.
The law should reflect that.