The parole board is a touchy subject. In each decision to release a convicted criminal into the outside world, there will inevitably be supporters and dissenters.
That”s a fact Betty Lou Jones knows all too well. The Meridian community activist and Mississippi University for Women alumnus addressed Rotary Club members at their weekly lunch meeting at the Columbus Country Club on Tuesday. Jones spoke about her involvement on Mississippi”s parole board and what she has learned during her tenure there.
“After I speak today, half of you will not agree with me,” she said. “Everybody either wants somebody out, or they want them to stay in.”
The members of the parole board are used to not being popular with everyone at the end of the day. They evaluate eligible prisoners in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and determine whether they should grant, refuse or revoke parole. Established by the code of 1972, the board operates independently from the Department of Corrections and answers directly to the governor.
Jones was selected by Gov. Haley Barbour to serve on the parole board, and in her time there her eyes have been opened to the cold reality of today”s social system.
“It hurts me to look at the records of these inmates we are reviewing and see that they have dropped out in the fourth grade, sixth grade, 11th grade, and even some in the 12th grade,” Jones said. ” They turn to crime because our system in some ways has made it impossible for them to live up to the standards we have set.”
Jones said that 75 percent of the prisoners in the system dropped out of school. Many of them come from broken or single-parent homes.
“Now don”t get me wrong,” she said. “Everybody has the chance to do right, but in our society, many things have gone wrong for these inmates.”
Because drugs and alcohol account for a large amount of the convictions — 37.9 percent, Jones said — the state sponsors rehabilitation programs and educational courses and attempts to reinstate convicts back into the world.
“Our goal is to transition through supervised release,” Jones said. “They must learn to accept a fight or a fuss and not end it with a gun.”
Consideration is made for each inmate based on his or her specific circumstances. The parole board considers the crime, the victim and solicits input from law enforcement and the community. In some instances and in all sexual crimes, the board evaluates the prisoner”s psychiatric history. The members also consider whether an inmate has a history of violence, drug or alcohol addiction and gang involvement.
“There is rampant gang activity in the state of Mississippi,” Jones said and cautioned Rotary members not to naively ignore it.
Jones said it all comes down to one thing: money.
“We”re just skimming the surface,” she said. “We need more money for re-entry programs. The answer is getting (prisoners) out and making them productive. That being said, our Department of Corrections is doing a good job under the circumstances.”
But more than anything, Jones said, the solution is foundational.
“We have a mess in Mississippi,” she said. “It”s been happening because our families have lost control. We as a society have got to break that cycle.”
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