Mississippi legislators are sending Gov. Tate Reeves a bill that could make more inmates eligible for the possibility of parole in a state one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 35-13 and the House voted 91-25 to pass the final version of Senate Bill 2795. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, but supporters of the bill said they did not know whether the Republican governor would sign it.
Mississippi has some people serving long sentences for nonviolent offenses, and the state’s prison system came under Justice Department investigation last year after outbreaks of violence among inmates.
Current state law says inmates convicted of some crimes after June 30, 1995, are ineligible for parole. The House Corrections Committee chairman, Republican Kevin Horan of Grenada, said the bill that passed Tuesday would allow the possibility of parole for people convicted of armed robbery.