This article is prepared Mississippi todaywhich was a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network in 2023-24. Subscribe to Dispatches to receive such stories as soon as they are published.
Mississippi passed a new law last year aimed at reducing the number of people who go to jail just because they need mental health treatment. Officials say this has resulted in fewer people with serious mental illnesses being held in prisons.
But data provided by various organizations is inconsistent and incomplete, so it’s impossible to know whether the numbers are actually declining.
“It was inconsistent. Sometimes it just wasn’t there in different parts of the state,” said Rep. Sam Crickmore IV, a New Albany Republican who chairs the Public Health and Human Services Committee and has sponsored legislation related to civil liability during the past two sessions. “And so it’s very difficult for us to gauge how well or poorly we’re doing when the numbers don’t match.”
The Legislature approved changes to the state’s civil commitment law last year after Mississippi Today and ProPublica reported that hundreds of people were detained without criminal charges in Mississippi prisons each year as they await mandatory mental health evaluation and treatment. In prison, they often did not receive any mental health care and were treated as if they were criminals. The investigation established that since 2006 at least 17 people died after imprisonment during this process; and a national survey as part of this series found Mississippi unique among states in its heavy use of civilian prisons.
Under Art a new law that went into effect in Julya person cannot be incarcerated unless all other custody options have been exhausted and unless they are “actively violent”; and they cannot be kept for more than 48 hours. The new law also requires people in crisis to first see mental health professionals, who can recommend commitment or offer more appropriate voluntary treatment options, avoiding the civil commitment process altogether.
According to reports from the Community Mental Health Center, in the first three months of the law, more than 1,300 people were screened statewide for possible civil commitment, and more than 500 were diverted to a less restrictive treatment option. But during the same period, from July to September 2024, state agencies, counties and community mental health centers reported vastly different numbers of people who spent time in jail during the process.
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Community mental health centers reported that 43 people were jailed during that period, less than half the number reported by the Department of Mental Health: 102 people. And the department’s figure is likely an undercount because it only includes people admitted to a state hospital after a stint in prison. Department of Mental Health spokesman Adam Moore told Mississippi Today that he could not explain the discrepancy.
And only 43 of Mississippi’s 82 clerks of courts provided data for the same period, despite the 2023 law. required courts to report psychiatric treatment data to the state. Those counties reported holding a total of 25 people in jail between July and September 2024 during the civil commitment process.
Crickmore said he plans to introduce a bill this year that would require more counties to provide the required data.
“It really makes it impossible to legislate changes to (new civil commitment laws) if our data is incomplete,” he said.
Last year, Crickmore said the Department of Mental Health would “police” districts to ensure compliance. But the agency itself said otherwise: Moore told Mississippi Today and ProPublica that he would inform county officials and mental health workers about the new law but would not enforce it.
The mental health department has sent out quarterly reminders to clerks about reporting deadlines, provided access to training videos and written instructions, and created a help desk for technical questions, Moore said.
Most of the state do not routinely incarcerate people without charge during the psychiatric civil incarceration process. At least 12 states and the District of Columbia have outright bans. I only one Mississippi prison was certified by the state to house people awaiting court-ordered psychiatric treatment in 2023.
Sheriffs, who have long condemned the burden of housing people with mental health problems in jails as inappropriate and dangerous, have largely supported the change in the law.
“It’s fantastic for the sheriffs because the sheriffs don’t want sick people in jail,” said Will Allen, an attorney for the Mississippi Sheriffs Association. “They certainly don’t want people who haven’t committed a crime in prison.”
But implementing the law has proven difficult for resource-constrained areas of the state, particularly those without nearby crisis stabilization units that provide short-term treatment for people in psychiatric crisis.
And even in well-resourced areas, limited crisis beds can force counties to transport patients or place them in a nearby private treatment facility at the county’s expense.
The jail’s housing restrictions have been a “nightmare” for Calhoun County, which is more than 30 miles from the nearest crisis stabilization facility, Clerk of the Office Kathy Poinar said.
“We have nowhere else to put them,” she said. “We cannot afford a psychiatric cell. Rural counties simply cannot meet their financial obligations.”
Some advocates say the law’s provisions should be subject to tighter state control.
Greta Martin, director of litigation for Disability Rights Mississippi, said the lack of oversight in the law is troubling.
“If you pass legislation with a 48-hour limit on people in the county jail, and you don’t provide any oversight to ensure that county jails follow that, what’s the point of that legislation?” she said.
