JACKSON, Miss. — If you haven’t been impacted by it, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. Crime is so bad in Mississippi, the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts predicts just housing inmates could jump $266 million in the coming decade.
Governor Phil Brant dosen’t want that to happen while he’s head of state government. So he brought nearly 200 lawyers, police and other people together Tuesday for a public safety summit…with one goal in mind. “Helping to prevent crime together and that’s what this summit is about,” said Bryant. “We are gonna come out with good strong legislation and we are gonna get it passed. Crime and justice is what this session is gonna be about.”
There were no shortage of ideas at Tuesday’s summit. Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director Marshall Fisher suggest more money for drug courts. “And I think we need to look at some alternatives for putting people back out on the street where they will have a transition through treatment. You can’t put addicts back out on the streets and expect them to get well.”
Attorney General Jim Hood is advocating rehabilitating inmates. “It’s gonna save money. We will have fewer prisoners that are recidivist. And the ones we know are gonna get out and do it again, we just lock them down.”
Most of those who attended Tuesday’s summit agree there is no one silver bullet that will prevent crime, but they all agree to work together to reduce it.
