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Warning: This story contains detailed descriptions of the manner of suicide in prison. 

Nearly three months into a 10-year sentence for a drive-by shooting, Denise Short asked prison staffers at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl to place her on suicide watch. The 21-year-old mother had planned to take her own life, she told them in March 2024. 

Prison officials ignored Short’s request, which would have required frequent well-being checks and other moves to keep her from harming herself. Instead, they locked her in what the department calls a “segregation” cell, or “restrictive housing”— or what is more commonly known as solitary confinement, according to a lawsuit filed by her family. She was left alone behind a steel door with a narrow sliver for a window.

A day later, correctional officers found Short’s body hanging from a state-issued bedsheet, the lawsuit alleges. 

“There were so many opportunities to help Denise,” said Jenessa Hicks, a lawyer representing Short’s family. But at every turn, said Hicks, Short was denied the help she needed. 

Short is one of at least 47 people who died by suicide while in restrictive housing units in Mississippi’s prisons between 2015 and 2025, according to an investigation by The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today and the Clarion Ledger. The team reviewed prison housing histories, disciplinary records, death incident reports, police records, lawsuits and autopsies.

Among the findings: 

• Nearly 75% of the incarcerated people who died by suicide were housed in restrictive housing units, where well-being checks are supposed to happen more frequently than in the general population — twice per hour, no more than 40 minutes apart. In some cases, rigor mortis had set in by the time a person was found, signaling that they had been dead for hours. 

• Many of the incarcerated people who killed themselves had a history of self-harm or previous suicide attempts that were known to prison officials. 

• The Mississippi Department of Corrections continues to use solitary confinement to house people who are diagnosed with mental illnesses, despite national studies, federal lawsuits against the agency, and United Nations testimonies that show the practice heightens the risk of suicide and worsens mental health conditions. Solitary confinement can also trigger mental health issues in people who have not been previously diagnosed. According to MDOC’s standard operating policies, placement in restrictive housing — what the Justice Department defines as any housing condition where someone is locked in a room alone or with one other person for the vast majority of the day — can only be used when someone poses a risk or threat to themself, others, staff, facility security or property, or has committed a major rule violation such as violence, gang activity or possession of contraband.

According to MDOC’s standard operating policies, placement in restrictive housing — what the Justice Department defines as any housing condition where someone is locked in a room alone or with one other person for the vast majority of the day — can only be used when someone poses a risk or threat to themself, others, staff, facility security or property, or has committed a major rule violation such as violence, gang activity or possession of contraband.

Before someone is sent to restrictive housing, a medical staff member is supposed to review an incarcerated person’s medical record for any conditions, including those related to mental and physical health, “that could be detrimental to confinement,” according to MDOC policy. 

MDOC spokesperson Kate Head said the department uses restrictive housing “as a last resort for housing an inmate who poses a threat to themselves, property, staff, other inmates, and/or the operation of the facility.”

Nationwide, half of all suicides in prisons and jails occur in solitary confinement, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

A 2024 study found that solitary confinement increased the likelihood of suicidal ideation, even more than incarceration without solitary confinement. Another 2021 study in the Lancet Journal listed occupation of a single-person cell and no social visits as risk factors contributing to the heightened risk of suicide. The practice has also been linked to self-harm, chronic stress, anxiety, trouble sleeping and difficulties with memory and concentration. 

Solitary confinement is especially harmful to people with mental illnesses, said Terry Kupers, a forensic psychiatrist and nationally recognized expert on solitary confinement. It is often used to warehouse difficult incarcerated people whom corrections staff don’t know how to handle, he said. 

“The more inadequate the mental health treatment in a correctional system, the more people with mental illness are sent to solitary. It’s just a matter of convenience,” Kupers said.

The United Nations and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care both state that solitary confinement should never exceed 15 days. At one Mississippi facility, incarcerated people classified as “close custody” stayed in restrictive housing for an average of 515 days, a 2022 investigation by the Justice Department found. One man who died by hanging had been in solitary confinement on death row for 20 years.

Mississippi is “unfortunate, but not alone,” in its continued use of solitary confinement, Kupers said. He has testified as an expert witness in multiple lawsuits against the state, including one that resulted in the 2010 closure of a solitary confinement unit at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. 

Other prison systems in the Deep South have grappled with the use of solitary confinement and its impact. 

A class action lawsuit over a solitary confinement program led to Georgia State Prison being shut down in 2022. The facility, which specialized in housing and caring for those with serious mental illness, was the site of nearly one-third of all suicides in the Georgia corrections system, according to the Southern Center for Human Rights, which represented the incarcerated people in solitary.

In Alabama, a federal judge ruled in 2017 that mental health care in the state’s prisons was “horrendously inadequate” and violated the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. At the time, the state’s prison suicide rate was four times the national average. 

The Justice Department sued Alabama over numerous constitutional violations in its prisons. The state responded by increasing funding to the corrections system and embarked on building a $1 billion prison that is expected to be complete this year.

Since 2009, nearly 40 states have enacted legislation to limit solitary confinement for adults and juveniles in prisons, jails and youth detention. The one law passed by Mississippi on limiting solitary confinement is narrowly focused on pregnant people. Passed in 2021, it states prison staff can’t place them in solitary unless there is a reasonable belief they may harm themselves or the fetus, or they are a flight risk. 

To date, no state has fully ended the use of solitary. Washington banned its use in private detention facilities in 2023, only to undo that law two years later.  

States have been successful in enacting laws to prevent vulnerable groups of people from being placed in restrictive housing, including those with serious mental illness, those who are pregnant or postpartum, and those who are caring for children. Other laws have required prisons and jails to report their use of solitary confinement and training for corrections officers and law enforcement about its use. 

The torturous conditions in Mississippi’s restrictive housing units make them “breeding grounds for suicide, self-inflicted injury, fires, and assaults,” a 2024 investigation by the Justice Department found.

“All they do is beat, bang and cry,” said one incarcerated man interviewed by the Justice Department at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. 

‘Why y’all always refusing me medical treatment?’

Brandon Mitchell cried out for help repeatedly before he died by suicide in solitary confinement at East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian in 2021. EMCF is a privately run facility that incarcerates prisoners with mental illnesses. Approximately 75% of residents at the facility have a diagnosed mental health condition, according to Emily Lawhead, a spokesperson for Management & Training Corp., which operates the prison. 

For nearly three years, Mitchell was in restrictive housing for all but two weeks. He was otherwise shuffled between a medical unit and camp support, a smaller unit for people needing acute mental health treatment.

Two weeks before his death, a mental health nurse wrote in her notes that Mitchell was acting out “all to get attention.” 

For at least 10 months before his death, Mitchell had recurring mental health episodes, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of his estate. He cut his arms. He set fires. He broke his cell window. He tied a jumpsuit around his neck. He was kept in solitary. He told security and mental health staff that he was suicidal, asked for medication and to be taken out of his cell. He said he felt like he wasn’t being taken seriously.

“Why y’all always refusing me medical treatment?” he asked a nurse, according to the lawsuit.

Self-harm is a psychiatric emergency, Kupers said. In prison, behaviors that could be manifestations of mental illness are treated as disciplinary violations, making it harder for those in solitary confinement to get out, and perpetuating what Kupers called a “vicious cycle” of despair.

“People tend to self-harm, go to suicide watch for days or a week, and get sent back to solitary,” Kupers said. “A suicide crisis is not over in a few days.” 

A review of disciplinary reports for self-harm showed incarcerated people cut themselves with razors, glass and other sharpened objects; swallowed batteries; and attempted to hang themselves with clothing or bedsheets — all while they were supposed to be under supervision. 

These acts of self-mutilation were punished with loss of canteen or telephone privileges, isolation and restitution — requiring the incarcerated person to pay for medical expenses. 

The frequent self-harm episodes are also indicative of security failures that make it easier to carry out a suicide. 

“The idea that a person is in segregation and is actively asking for help, and the response, oddly enough, is to further isolate the person, is really a head-scratcher for me,” said Andrea Armstrong, a nationally recognized researcher on deaths in custody.  

Preventable deaths, including suicides, happen when prisons fail at their core functions, Armstrong said. These responsibilities include attentive supervision, services such as mental health treatment and security around the facility’s outside perimeter. 

Consistent understaffing, poor recordkeeping that improperly places people in restrictive housing, and lax oversight that allows illegal drugs to flow through the system all contribute to these failures, making it easier to die by suicide or homicide in these facilities. 

MDOC policy requires frequent checks on people who are in restrictive housing, especially those who are “violent or mentally disordered or who demonstrate unusual or bizarre behavior.” The policy also states that those who are suicidal should be under continuous observation.

Chronic understaffing often prevents checks with that frequency. 

The Justice Department’s 2024 investigation found that the Central Mississippi prison, where Short would later die, was operating with less than half the staff needed. The state auditor’s office is demanding a $7.4 million penalty from the private company that runs EMCF, where Mitchell died, for failure to provide the minimum mandatory staff to run the prison, as a 2020 investigation by The Marshall Project revealed. 

The Justice Department’s 2022 investigation at Parchman, another Mississippi facility, revealed that some corrections officers had falsified count sheets, claiming that they had done security checks when they had not.

In the absence of staff, some — like Mitchell — resort to extreme behaviors, such as setting fires and self-harm, to draw staff members’ attention to the largely unsupervised units.

When staff are present, they serve as de facto gatekeepers to health care. In order to see a medical professional, incarcerated people have to fill out a “sick call” form, which is handled by corrections officers. 

Those sick calls are sometimes ignored, said attorney Greta Kemp Martin, formerly with Disability Rights Mississippi. The organization monitored Mississippi prisons and filed a lawsuit in 2021 against MDOC, corrections staff and VitalCore, the department’s private healthcare contractor, alleging inadequate medical care. 

Corrections officers, who are not trained mental health professionals, are the first responders to psychiatric emergencies. 

In a 2020 self-harm incident documented in an MDOC rule violation report, a corrections officer ordered an incarcerated person at EMCF to stop cutting himself. When the prisoner did not stop, the officer sprayed him with a chemical. He was then punished with a 30-day loss of all privileges. 

“Even when you are imprisoned for committing a crime, you still deserve to be treated with basic human dignity and not completely disregarded and have your cries for help be totally ignored,” said Hicks, the lawyer representing Denise Short’s family. 

Short’s lawsuit alleges that when she notified one MDOC employee of her suicidal thoughts, the employee responded, “Do what you have to do.” 

MDOC denied that, according to the lawsuit. 

At the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility where Short died, her family’s lawyer alleges major discrepancies between what prison records show about the timing of her check-ins and her death and what video evidence shows. Short was last seen alive between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on March 19, 2024, her family’s lawsuit alleges. An MDOC employee says they saw her through a narrow cell door window at 6 a.m. the next day and believed she was standing. But lawyer Jenessa Hicks said video evidence shows that Short was already hanging by that point. She was discovered dead at 8:20 a.m. that same day. 

The news team requested logs that would reveal if anyone checked on Short in the hours leading up to her death, but MDOC did not provide them by the time of this publication.

Mitchell’s case also raises serious questions about the frequency of check-ins. When he was found dead in his cell on the morning of April 24, 2021, his body was cold and stiff. Rigor mortis had set in. 

Grant McLaughlin, who now works for Lagniappe Daily, contributed to this report. He has continued working on this project since he was a reporter at the Clarion Ledger.

This article was published in partnership with Mississippi Today, The Marshall Project – Jackson, a nonprofit news team covering Mississippi’s criminal justice systems, and the Clarion Ledger.

BEAR LAKE, Idaho – These fingers last typed about my good friend and former Clarion Ledger co-worker Mike Knobler in February of 2022. Mike had returned to Mississippi to run in the Mississippi Blues Marathon, which he completed, making Mississippi the 36th state in which he had successfully run a 26.2 mile race.

You can read that column here, and it will give you some needed background about why I write about him again today. You see, that’s when Mike, a former sports writer-turned-international tax attorney, told me he was getting close to his goal of running marathons in all 50 states. Thirty-six down, 14 to go, he told me. And that’s when I told him that should he make it to 50, I’d be there.

So here we were, on a sunny Friday morning where Mike, at age 62, finished the hilly Bear Lake Idaho Marathon course, all 26.2 miles with a view of the lovely, aqua waters of Bear Lake and with the scenic Bear River Mountains serving as a backdrop. The race was run at an elevation of 6,000 feet, adding to the course’s difficulty, but Mike finished smiling and raising a triumphant fist. He won the 60-70 age group’s first prize, finishing in 3 hours, 56 minutes.

“Beautiful course, lots of hills,” he said, after shaking hands and sharing sweaty hugs with well-wishers. The race director/announcer made a big deal about Mike having completed the 50-state achievement, which led to cheering and to other runners, mostly much younger than he, approaching to congratulate him. The guess here is if you’ve just run a 26.2 miles, you really appreciate someone who has done it over 50 times in all 50 states.

Later, I asked Mike how it felt to achieve such a remarkable goal, all the more impressive when you realize he did not start running until he was 40, 22 years and about 55 pounds ago. He thought for a few seconds before answering.

“It’s weird, because I am not your traditional goals-setting person,” he said. “I usually adapt rather than commit, but this is the exception. It feels good. There’s definitely a sense of accomplishment. I surely didn’t expect to do this when I started running. But once I got about halfway through the states, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, yeah, I can do this.’”

And so he has. He has also run seven additional marathons for 57 total, including Boston three times. For most of these marathons, he has flown his own plane to and from. It’s the same plane — a single engine, Mooney M20J – he once flew around Mississippi and the Deep South to cover sports events.

I asked him how his aging parents, both former UCLA physics/chemistry professors, felt about his accomplishment.

“It’s weird,” he answered. “Mine is not an athletic family. We’ve been watchers, rather than doers. I think my marathon running has made me kind of a curiosity to them. Come to think of it, I think maybe I am a curiosity to a lot of people.”

If he has been a curiosity until now, wait until you learn what is next for Mike Knobler: 26 countries.

After spending Friday night in nearby Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mike flew his Mooney into and across Canada. From near the northeastern tip of Canada, he will fly across the Atlantic to Greenland and from there to Finland, where next Saturday he will begin his next goal, 25 marathons in 25 weeks, in 25 different countries. Over the next 11 months, he plans to literally fly around the world.

The marathon schedule is mind-boggling: from Finland, to Norway (the Midnight Sun Marathon), to Belgium, to Austria, to Montenegro, to England, to Germany, to Wales, to the Isle of Man, to Denmark, to Iceland, to Sweden, to Ireland, to Moldova, to the Czech Republic, to Poland, to the Netherlands, to Hungary, to Slovenia, to Morocco (Casablanca), to Turkey, to Greece (Athens, where he will run the original marathon course), to Cyprus, to Spain, to France. Counting the Bear Lake Marathon, that will make 26 marathons in 26 weeks, in 26 countries, all run by a 62-year-old man, flying from race to race in his own plane. What’s your hobby?

“You don’t have to be a great athlete to run marathons,” Mike said. “You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

To do it for half a year – 26 times in 26 countries, you also have to be retired. Mike has retired – at least for now – from lawyering. Until last Thursday, he lived in Malibu. But he closed down his apartment, put his furniture in storage and has headed off into an adventure most of us can only imagine.

Danny Knobler, his older brother, was here to see him complete his 50 in 50 goal and will fly with him to Finland for the first European marathon, but Mike will travel the rest solo. You should know that Danny, formerly an accomplished baseball writer, now lives in Thailand where he owns a sports bar. These Knoblers live interesting lives.

After 26 marathons in 26 weeks, Mike’s plan is to see much of the rest of the world. His tentative itinerary will take him to Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, back to Australia, Philippines, Japan and, finally, Alaska. Because of weather, the flight from Japan to Alaska can’t happen before May, so he’ll have December until May to visit those countries.

His biggest challenge running-wise over the next 25 weeks? Surprisingly, he says it’s not running a marathon every week. He already accomplished three marathons in three weeks last year, running marathons in Connecticut, Minnesota and Iowa on consecutive Saturdays.

No, the biggest challenge will come in three trail marathons, which he calls “a whole different kettle of fish.” Those marathons will be run on difficult terrain, rather than paved roads, forcing him to often change stride and direction to avoid obstacles and keep his balance to avoid falling. One of the trail marathons is in Montenegro, where the elevation rise 6,000 feet during the course of the race. That’s equivalent to going up about 600 flights of uneven stairs over 26.2 miles. The course is so difficult that race organizers place a nine-hour time limit on participants.

Mike believes he can do it. “My goal for the trail marathons is to put in reasonable effort and have some fun,” he said. “My goal for all the road marathons is to finish in under four hours.”

That would keep his record perfect. He has started 57 marathons. He has finished 57 marathons.

Flying-wise, the biggest challenge is the last leg, from Japan to Alaska. “Getting across the Pacific is the biggest challenge of flying around the world,” he says, and I’ll take his word for it.

“Russia could make it easier, but they won’t,” Mike said.

WIth this adventure in mind, Mike changed his four-seat Mooney into a two-seat plane. What was once the back two seats now holds a 150-gallon ferry gas tank.

You may wonder, as I, what Mike plans to do next after 50 marathons in 50 states and then 25 marathons in 25 weeks in 25 countries?

The answer? He doesn’t know. Remember, this sports writer-turned-lawyer’s nature is to adapt, rather than commit. Safe to say, he adapts – and at least once commits – quite well.

•••

Read more about Mike Knobler’s marathoning here.

The immense power of the seven-member Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board is being displayed as it contemplates closing a Canton school – SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy – for alleged money woes.

The Board is expected to make a decision later this summer. But will that decision be constitutional?

SR1 is one of 12 charter schools currently in operation in Mississippi after being approved by the state Authorizer Board. Those schools cumulatively receive about $50 million annually in state and local funding, plus additional federal funding, making the Authorizer Board responsible for more public money than most of Mississippi’s agencies, boards and commissions.

Supporters have long argued that charter schools overseen by the Authorizer Board are public schools. The primary differences between charter and traditional public schools are that charters do not have to adhere to some of the rules and regulations of traditional schools, and students have to apply and agree to certain conditions to be admitted to a charter school.

When the charter schools were finally approved in the mid-2010s after a hotly contested legislative debate, the Authorizer Board also was created to oversee the new public schools.

The creation of the Authorizer Board was eye-opening since the charter schools were touted as public schools  and the Mississippi Constitution is clear about which public entity administers public schools.

Ed Board, not Authorizer Board, in constitution

Section 203 of the Mississippi Constitution, approved by voters in 1982, clearly states that the nine-member Mississippi Board of Education, in the old days referred to as a lay Board of Education, would oversee public schools. The members of the Board of Education are appointed on a rotating basis by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. Members of the Charter School Authorizer Board are appointed by the governor and lieutenant governor, along with one person from the Mississippi Department of Education, presumably appointed by the state Board of Education. Members of both boards face Senate confirmation.

It was viewed as a seminal event when voters approved the “lay state Board of Education” as part of Gov. William Winter’s  education reform efforts of the early 1980s, an effort to take education out of the hands of politicians. Previously, the state Board consisted of three statewide elected officials: the superintendent of education, the attorney general and the secretary of state.

Section 203 of the state constitution says the Board of Education “shall manage and invest school funds according to law, formulate policies according to law for implementation by the state Department of Education, and perform such other duties as prescribed by law.”

The Charter School Authorizer Board is not in the Mississippi Constitution. It was not approved by voters. It was created by a law passed by the Mississippi Legislature.

Normally, at least according to ninth grade civics most Mississippians of an older age took, a law does not trump the constitution.

Supreme Court says charter schools are public

The Mississippi Supreme Court also has weighed in to proclaim charter schools are indeed public schools. That ruling came after a group of Jackson parents challenged the constitutionality of local public money being diverted to charter schools.

In the 2019 majority decision, Justice Robert Chamberlin, who is now a federal judge in the Northern District of Mississippi, wrote: “In other words, charter schools are not established as a separate school district and remain a public school of the local school district for the purposes of Article 8, Section 206.”

Section 206 of the Mississippi Constitution requires the Legislature to establish funds for the public schools and gives local governments the authority to provide additional money to the schools.

Thus far, no one has challenged whether it is constitutional for the Authorizer Board instead of the state Board of Education to oversee the charter schools.

And truth be known, it seems unlikely that the current Mississippi Supreme Court would buck the wishes of Gov. Tate Reeves and Republican legislative leaders who support charter schools. Many lawmakers who are still in office voted to create the Authorizer Board. And let’s just say the current Supreme Court has been reluctant to rule against the state’s political leadership.

But still, if charter schools are public schools, then why are they not administered by the Board of Education like the Mississippi Constitution mandates?

The goal of the newly opened Delta Harvest Neighborhood Market is to support Mississippi farmers and Jackson shoppers with fresh, locally-grown foods.

The market opened Thursday at the Jackson Medical Mall. It will be open 2 p.m.-7 p.m. every Thursday at the same location.

Shoppers lined up on the first day to purchase vegetables, meat, eggs, meal kits and more. Many customers left with their food in reusable bags bearing the market’s logo. The farmers themselves and volunteers helped customers shop and check out.

The market was created by a partnership among several community organizations, including the Itta Bena Economic & Cultural Alliance, the Jackson District Missionary Baptist Association and the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative.

Tracy Johnson, a consultant with the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative, organized the market.

“Our goal is to connect farmers to communities that we can provide with healthier foods, but also that we’ll be able to pay the farmers more,” he said.

“The whole thing is about reviving this economy.”

Johnson explained that all of the money spent at the market stays in Mississippi, from the farmers and their helpers to the volunteers at the market who ring up customers.

He said the market is a pilot. If the model is successful, organizers will change the hours and expand into multiple locations. It currently supports five farmers, all from the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative farmer’s cooperative, Southern Black Women in Agriculture.

Organizers hope to support up to 30 farmers.

One of the farmers participating in the initial market was Patricia Porter. She described herself as a “hardworking farmer.” She sold banana peppers at the market, but she also produces peas, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers and more.

She was happy with the turnout.

“It gets you out to other people to know that you’re growing healthy food and good stuff coming out of the garden,” Porter said.

Other members of the co-op were there, as was Myra Bryant, a consultant who works with them.

Fellow farmer and co-op member Nadean Randle also sold food at the market. She spoke passionately about the importance of eating whole foods and how the desire to help others do so led her to becoming a farmer.

“You want to know that you’re eating food, not food-like substances,” she said.

“I say, if it will not rot, it’s not real food. Except for honey.”

Bryant believes organizers can bring in up to 100 farmers from across the state.

“Our number one goal is to feed the families here in Jackson, Mississippi,” she said.

Three customers came with the goal of supporting local farmers and finding high quality food.

Dot Smith, 70, wanted to support farmers from her hometown, Lexington. She bought sweet potatoes and banana peppers.

“It’s always important to support … Black people or growers. And you know, the Delta is one of the finest growing places there is,” she said.

Pamela Hurston, 62, is a Jackson native who bought some mixed greens, which she plans to use in a Sunday meal.

“I know the history of the Delta, and how they’re working hard to … have their own, create their own.” she said.

“So they take a part of their own and bring it here for us to take part in it? I say, yeah. I just wanted to be a part of it.”

Joseph Latham, 26, is a graduate assistant at the Jackson Medical Mall. He didn’t buy anything on Thursday, but plans to return. He’s been meaning to switch to getting his groceries locally.

“I know for sure with it being locally owned, especially Black locally-owned, that I’m definitely going to get my money’s worth,” Latham said.

The House Ethics Committee investigated Democratic Rep. Jim Costa of California in 2023 over allegations that he made inappropriate advances to two congressional interns. The panel voted against a formal probe, but the four women on the committee pushed to admonish Costa publicly.

Ultimately, the majority-male committee never disclosed the investigation.

This episode — described to NOTUS by two people familiar with the discussions — underscores what women in Congress say should be addressed: The Ethics Committee is and has always been dominated by men, which could limit its ability to police sexual misconduct. Women in Congress want that to change. It probably won’t.

Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-California), who served as the top Democrat of the committee for three consecutive terms, told NOTUS, “I think that would certainly help every time you have significant representation of women. Then, I think you’re going to get better results.”

Female lawmakers, with the blessing of both House Republican and Democratic leadership, have been leading the charge to reform the House ethics process following two high-profile resignations over sexual misconduct allegations.

Last month, New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, lamented that “there aren’t enough women representing America” in a press conference with survivors of sexual abuse.

The House Ethics Committee — the body that enforces the House’s code of conduct and investigates sexual misconduct allegations — has always been composed mostly of male lawmakers. The 10-person panel, currently chaired by Rep. Michael Guest (R-Mississippi), has never had more than four women serving on it at the same time.

Following the resignations of Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-California) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), the Ethics Committee released a rare statement in April encouraging “anyone who may have experienced sexual misconduct by a House Member or staffer” to report it to the committee. It also revealed that it had initiated 20 investigations related to allegations of sexual misconduct by House members since 2017.

The committee has said it is currently investigating Reps. Cory Mills (R-Florida) and Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) for allegations of sexual misconduct. Currently, there are three women serving on the committee: Reps. Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas.)

Female lawmakers in the House have complained that the anti-harassment training for members is “laughable.”Last month a group of bipartisan women launched a task force to spell out clearer policies and reporting requirements.

The Costa case, first reported by NOTUS, was a complicated one. There were allegations that Costa had made advances in 2020 and 2021 to two young interns. And one woman on the committee told other members she herself had seen Costa engaging in inappropriate behavior with young female staffers on a congressional delegation trip, or CODEL, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Costa has denied any wrongdoing.

The committee — which had six male members and four female members at the time — voted to dismiss the case over a lack of substantial evidence. However, discussions took place among members over whether the committee could issue any public statement to call out concerns about Costa’s alleged conduct, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The committee has previously issued letters of admonition to members accused of violating House rules when the committee has determined that an investigation is not warranted, but they find the alleged behavior to be problematic.

Two people familiar with the Costa discussions said women in the committee pushed to publicly admonish the congressman. The male members argued against going public, stating they did not want to “sully somebody’s reputation” when they did not have “great evidence,” one of the sources said.

It’s unclear when or where these discussions took place. A person familiar with the Ethics Committee’s deliberations told NOTUS that these discussions did not take place in the committee’s “executive session proceedings.”

“At no point in the Committee’s executive session proceedings was there any gender divide, nor did any Member of the Committee push for a public letter of admonishment at any time during those proceedings,” the person said.

The allegations against and the investigation into Costa remained secret until NOTUS reported on them — three years later.

NOTUS reported Wednesday that the panel is investigating former committee members for leaks around that closed investigation.

Ultimately the committee privately recommended that Costa take special anti-harassment training, according to the two sources. The Ethics Committee declined to comment on the record for this story.

Some Democrats say that requiring an even number of male and female members could benefit the Ethics Committee, particularly when it comes to looking into sexual misconduct allegations.

“I’m shocked that there are male members who have been reported publicly to have either had relationships with their former staff or harassed their staff that were here for so long before the drumbeat for their removal came” Sánchez said.

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon), who serves in the leadership of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which is currently working with the Republican Women’s Caucus to make recommendations to update the House ethics process, said it was a “great idea” to even out the number of men and women on the basis that men, she suggested, will inherently have less sensibilities about women’s issues and sexual misconduct.

“You have to know when maybe you’re out of your depth a little bit and you’re not controlling things the way they need to be controlled,” she said of the men in the committee.

Salinas, who served as a staffer in the House on and off from 1996 to 2008, said it was “gross” getting stared at by older male lawmakers or other menwhile walking through the halls of Congress and the adjoining office buildings.

“You’re just like ‘Ew. I want to go take a shower,’” she added.

Closing the gender gap on the Ethics Committee would not be an easy task — if it happens at all.

One problem — members aren’t clamoring to be on the panel. Leaders historically make assignments to the Ethics Committee at the start of the new Congress. Former Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania often shares the story of how former Speaker John Boehner tapped him to join Ethics as a sort of a dues-paying stint on the way to the coveted House Appropriations Committee.

“I guess nobody wants to police their colleagues,” Dent told NOTUS. “I mean, that’s not why you ran for Congress, to be head of internal affairs of the police department for Congress.”

Former Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pennsylvania), a member of the House Ethics Committee between 2005 and 2007, laughed when asked by NOTUS if she wanted to be a member of the panel: “Nobody wanted to serve on the Ethics Committee.”

She was appointed by former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who in 2016 went on to plead guilty for paying hush money to conceal he sexually assaulted teenage boys in the 1960s and 1970s. Hastert told her that joining the committee was “not a super popular thing, but it’s very important,” Hart recalled.

Hart believes recent sexual misconduct controversies could make a seat on the Ethics Committee more attractive.

“You may find members, especially female members, who might be much more interested in serving, and may even volunteer to the leaders to serve,” Hart said. More women joining, she added, would make it so that “the sensitivity certainly would be there.”

The House Ethics Committee has five Republican and five Democratic members. Adding an extra requirement that more women need to sit on the committee could make finding members even more difficult. One former Republican staffer who previously served as an aide for an Ethics Committee member said there are just not enough women to fulfill the many demands placed on female House members: There are currently 128 women, including nonvoting members, serving in the House — representing only around 29% of House lawmakers.

The staffer said female lawmakers already have to juggle committee assignments, press conferences and optional caucus and task force memberships: “I feel like the female members are already stretched so thinly, at least on the Republican side, that it’s hard to add yet another committee,” they said.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida), who chairs the Republican Women’s Caucus, said to expect some “pretty big changes” to the work of the House Ethics and Administration committees in coming months, but she expressed doubt about gender parity being part of those changes.

“Membership will always change, but if you have the structure in place, that’s what I’m more concerned with maintaining, rather than … what box someone checks,” Cammack told NOTUS.

But Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-California), the top Democrat in the Ethics Committee who hopes to become the chair if Democrats win the House majority in November, said he’s evaluating the idea of having more women in the committee.

“As a general rule, I think healthy public bodies in a democracy should reflect their constituents,” DeSaulnier told NOTUS. “We should reflect the people we govern — and the Ethics Committee too.”

But notably, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who served on the Ethics panel in the 1990s, told NOTUS she did not think the gender gap was a problem and that women lawmakers are not dissuaded to join the committee.

“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Pelosi said. “No one’s turned away from participating. It’s not a decision to have more men.”

This story is provided by a partnership between Mississippi Today and the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, which seeks to help readers in local communities understand what their elected representatives are doing in Congress.

HAZLEHURST — The Hazlehurst City School District board replaced its superintendent in a Friday morning vote. 

The board voted to hire Nonya Thrasher as the district’s interim superintendent. Thrasher was serving as the district’s director of accountability, compliance and accreditation. She replaces Cloyd Garth Jr., who had led the district since 2017.

Board members declined to confirm whether Garth resigned. Garth did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The board also voted to name Paul Rhodes as school board chairman pro tem, an interim role. He stepped in for school board president Daniel Jones, who also previously served as University of Mississippi chancellor. Jones declined to comment.

The leadership changes coincide with a Mississippi Department of Education probe of the district, which uncovered several accreditation violations that must be resolved to avoid a possible state takeover. Rhodes mentioned the district required an interim superintendent who was well aware of the corrective action needed. 

READ MORE: Can consolidations fix dysfunctional school districts?

The state Education Department rejected Hazlehurst’s corrective action plan in March and downgraded the district’s accreditation status to probation. District leaders have until December to clear outstanding accreditation violations including incomplete student recordkeeping, poor oversight of special education services and infrastructure in need of renovations.

As the district’s accreditation director since 2023, Thrasher helped clear outstanding violations related to problems with district course offerings, student transportation and student safety. She previously worked as interim superintendent of Claiborne County Schools.

“I feel pretty confident,” Rhodes said of Thrasher’s new role. “We all need to get on board because the main objective is making sure that our kids get educated. That’s the bottom line.”

Rep. Greg Holloway, a Democrat from Hazlehurst, told Mississippi Today he plans to ask state education department officials if they could postpone taking additional action against the district to give new leadership time to address problems.

“The district has shown an interest in making the school district better and not continuing down the same path, even though they went down that path too long,” Holloway said. “Certainly something had to be done about the conditions at Hazlehurst city schools. And it’s been that way for nearly 10 years, and it was never rectified.”

He described Thrasher as a leader capable of making the district a place that “people can be proud of in the future.”

INDIANAPOLIS — The hero of Alabama State’s first NCAA Tournament win and three of his teammates on the 2024-25 team were ruled permanently ineligible for accepting payment from gamblers to fix the outcome of a game that season, the NCAA announced Friday.

Amarr Knox, Shawn Fulcher, Corey Hines and Tony Madlock were alleged to have engaged in game manipulation when Alabama State played at Southern Mississippi on Dec. 5, 2024. Southern Miss was a six-point favorite and won 81-64.

According to the NCAA, two known bettors offered the players a total of $2,000 to throw the game. The players accepted and were later paid.

Knox, Hines and Madlock were Alabama State’s top three scorers for the 2024-25 season and Fulcher was a reserve. Knox’s layup with a second left lifted the Hornets to their first NCAA Tournament win, 70-68 over Saint Francis in the 2025 First Four.

The two bettors were indicted in January by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on wire fraud and bribery charges related to sports contests.

The NCAA discovered the game-fixing after Hines transferred to Temple, which notified the enforcement staff that Hines had been contacted by the FBI and shown text messages concerning a sports integrity issue when he was at Alabama State. None of the players was active on a college team last season.

Mississippi Today Ideas is a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share their ideas about our state’s past, present and future. Opinions expressed in guest essays are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Mississippi Today. You can read more about the section here. 

Two years before the Voting Rights Act was passed into law, on June 12, 1963, NAACP civil rights leader Medgar Evers drove back to his home in Jackson with a T-shirt that read “Jim Crow Must Go.” His wife and children waited up past midnight for his return.

As he approached his doorstep, an assassin’s bullet took his life – and his voice.

Our state of Mississippi has had a long and bloody battle to protect the political rights of Black people. Evers was far from the only victim in that movement.

Yet, this April, the United States Supreme Court spit in the face of Evers and the millions who risked it all and gave their lives for the right to vote.

By eviscerating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that Southern states have used to launch late-decade racially gerrymandering across the South, to dismantle congressional districts and silence the voices of Black voters. 

With a single ruling, the court sparked a new Civil War. And this one is not being fought with weapons. It is being fought with maps.

Prior to the Voting Rights Act, we did not have a single Black member of the United States House of Representatives from the South, despite a majority of the Black population residing in the region.

After the law’s passage in 1965 and through enforcement in the courts, every state in the South elected Black lawmakers. The law ensured that communities of interest were consolidated, not chopped up and fractured out of political existence. The Voting Rights Act put more people at the table, allowed more people to participate in the process and provided safeguards that allowed people to advocate for the candidates of their choice.

Let’s be very clear: racial gerrymandering is voter suppression. It is discrimination. When Black communities are surgically split up into numerous districts, so that they only make up a small percentage of the vote share in each district, their voice and vote lose their weight.

Attacking Black political power as a front to seize illegitimate control over all of us is unacceptable and undemocratic. But Gov. Tate Reeves and his clan view it differently. To them, voter suppression is a game.

Immediately after the Supreme Court announced its ruling, Mississippi Republicans jumped on the opportunity to reverse Mississippi back to its confederate roots. They exploited the opportunity to push a map that would erase the only majority-Black congressional district in our state, which I have the honor to serve and represent.

Mississippi is almost 40% Black. But under Reeves’ congressional map, Black Mississippians lose their one and only seat in Congress.

To those of us who believe in democracy, it’s evident that Gov. Reeves is leading an effort to shut us out of the political process. But to him, this gerrymander would end what he calls my “reign of terror.”

I have proudly represented the 2nd Congressional District, and have among the best attendance records in the whole of Congress. I, along with the Congressional Black Caucus, have consistently voted for greater access to healthcare, resources to uplift the poor, for increased support for our schools, stronger infrastructure and for an end to Donald Trump’s authoritarian regime.

Meanwhile, under Reeves’ reign, Mississippi ranks 48th out of 50 on health. And we are second-lowest in the nation on education.

If you ask me, that’s the real reign of terror plaguing Mississippians, and Reeves knows it. He and others have become so unpopular that they are rigging the system to keep their wealthy, out-of-touch and racist cronies in control of our government.

Take Shad White for example, the state auditor and a candidate for governor. He’s called for eliminating me through racial gerrymandering, and the next day, posted a photo of his AR-15 assault rifle with the caption “lock and load.” This is how they plan to maintain power, but we cannot allow it.

These are dark times for Mississippi, the South, and the whole United States. But we need to resist these attacks with every fiber in our body. We need to take this on in full force, peacefully, united and determined.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s won – don’t forget that. Despite it being rigged against them, the People overwhelmed the political system. They marched and protested, they got laws passed, they eradicated Jim Crow and they secured representation in Congress that all Americans deserve.

My former colleague Congressman John Lewis reminded us that “democracy is not a state, it is an act.” Freedom must be defended day in and day out.

We know how to confront this. We’ve done it before, and we will hold all of those accountable who are hellbent to shut us down. 

As Medgar Evers’ T-shirts so pointedly proclaimed: Jim Crow Must Go.

Bennie Thompson has represented Mississippi’s 2nd District in the U.S. House since 1993. Thompson is former chair and currently the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He previously served as mayor of Bolton and on the Hinds County Board of Supervisors.

Three men charged with the same shooting at a south Jackson apartment complex were attacked within 24 hours of each other at two different jails – an incident a corrections expert called “bizarre” and “alarming.” 

Twin sisters Natalie and Nicole Gibson believe their children, Fredrick Williams and Isaac Gibson, were victims of a coordinated attack on April 23 – Gibson at the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond and Williams at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in the Mississippi Delta, where Hinds County houses some detainees because the Raymond jail is crowded.

“This is today’s society,” Natalie Gibson said. “You have no friends.” 

Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones previously confirmed that Isaac Gibson and another man facing murder charges in a March shooting at Pine Ridge Gardens Apartments were stabbed inside his jail on April 23, with the attack on Isaac Gibson occurring in the early morning. 

“It’s a jail,” Jones said. “People get attacked, people fight. In Hinds County, Madison County, Rankin County, Simpson County. All over the country, people fight in jails.” 

In an effort to make her own peace with the incident, Natalie Gibson told Mississippi Today a similar sentiment: “Jail is jail, and kids hurt kids.”

READ MORE: Hinds detainees in Delta prison injured during attacks they say are gang connected

Mississippi Today obtained a video of a stabbing inside a jail, but Jones said it did not depict his facility. Instead, Natalie and Nicole Gibson say the video shows the stabbing of Fredrick Williams, who had been transported to Tallahatchie shortly after Isaac Gibson was attacked in the Hinds County jail. 

The video shows several men wearing green uniforms and white undershirts attacking a man in a cell. The men beat on the victim, punching him, flinging him around and stabbing him with what appear to be cloth-covered weapons as he yells, “What I do?” 

Since the attack, Natalie Gibson said she’s been able to talk to Williams. She said he told her he was attacked by the same group of men who stabbed Isaac Gibson in the Hinds County jail. She said Williams believes they traveled with him in the transport van to Tallahatchie. 

Natalie Gibson also said Williams told her he was stabbed over a dozen times in his head and body, has broken bones in his face and can barely see out of his right eye. She said he told her that he felt threatened by a lieutenant who asked if he wanted to press charges. 

Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, the private company that runs the Tallahatchie prison, wrote in an email to Mississippi Today that an attack on two Hinds County inmates did occur in the jail at around 5:25 p.m. on April 23. He said one was treated at the jail and the other went to a local hospital. 

But Gustin did not provide the inmates’ names or confirm that the video obtained by Mississippi Today depicts the facility in the Mississippi Delta. He wrote that the Tutwiler Police Department is handling the investigation, but the department could not be reached. 

“As this is an active investigation, we cannot provide any information related to the videos you shared as part of your inquiry,” Gustin wrote. “What I can share is that inmates are not allowed to have cellphones and they are considered contraband.”

Were it not for the video, Natalie Gibson believes Williams would be dead. She said she was sitting at her kitchen table getting ready to eat dinner when her cousin called and told her to check Facebook. Someone was livestreaming the beating. 

Immediately, Natalie Gibson said she tried to get ahold of someone at Tallahatchie. After about 20 minutes, she said she connected with a sergeant who initially told her “ain’t nothing happened down there.” She said he didn’t check on Williams until she played him the video.

She said Williams later told her that he had been lying on the ground, bleeding from the head, for a half hour before staff discovered him.

Jail violence is common, but this attack was unusual

Violence in Mississippi’s jails and prisons is far from unusual, said Kathryn Bryan, a corrections specialist who has run jails and prisons across the country and briefly oversaw the Raymond Detention Center.

In Tallahatchie, Williams is far from the only person who has been attacked this year. Last month, an inmate from the US Virgin Islands was stabbed to death in Tallahatchie, leading a senator from the territory to voice concerns about conditions at the private prison, Mississippi Today reported.

But Bryan called it “bizarre” and “alarming” for attacks to span two facilities, occur within a day of each other and involve multiple people facing the same charges. 

“I have never heard of a scenario that extreme,” she said. 

Bryan added it was highly unlikely the inmates responsible for the attack lacked help of some kind.

“It’s equally alarming: Staff are either at worst complicit,” she said. “Or second worst, either deliberately indifferent or negligent.” 

Either way, Bryan said the Gibsons should file a lawsuit against the jails, noting a settlement would add to the financial toll Hinds County is already experiencing as it builds a new jail to replace Raymond.

“There’s money to be had and that may be the only thing that gets their attention,” she said,

Jones, the Hinds County sheriff, cited legal concerns as a reason he could no longer comment on the incident while speaking to a reporter after a law enforcement standards and training board meeting on May 14. 

Going forward, Jones said he will only release information if an inmate dies or escapes. 

Sisters believe their family is persecuted 

Natalie Gibson no longer lives in Jackson, but she grew up in the city with her twin sister, Nicole. For a time, their mother lived at Pine Ridge Gardens, a south Jackson apartment complex better known by its former name, Rebelwood. 

The sisters sometimes stayed there, too, during what they both recalled was a more peaceful time at the subsidized housing complex. In recent years, Rebelwood has become the site of repeated shootings, with residents complaining of a lack of security and frequently calling the police. 

In 2020, Nicole Gibson’s son, Quindarius Gibson, was fatally shot at Rebelwood. Ever since, the sisters say they’ve received threats. Their house was shot up. Their brother’s house was shot up. 

“After Quindarius got killed, it (was) just pretty much street beef,” Natalie Gibson said. 

In March, an 18-year-old named Trevarius Cooper joined the long list of Jacksonians who’ve lost their lives at Rebelwood. Cooper’s father, Johnny Cooper, told Mississippi Today he wanted to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment complex and was advised by his attorney not to speak to the media. 

On April 8, the Jackson Police Department held a press conference announcing it had charged Natalie and Nicole Gibson’s children and another man, Quandarius Beasley, with Cooper’s killing. The police did not offer an explanation for the men’s alleged motive or describe the chain of events they believe led to Cooper’s death.

Shortly after their children’s arrests, Natalie and Nicole Gibson told Mississippi Today they started receiving threats again. 

Booked into the Raymond jail and denied bond, their children also started getting threats, the sisters said. Natalie Gibson said Isaac Gibson called her to say some inmates had promised to stab him and he wanted to see refuge in Tallahatchie. The aunt said she advised him not to go into a cell if he didn’t feel safe. 

Lack of safety spurs lack of trust

Isaac Gibson and Beasley were stabbed in the Raymond Detention Center around 2 a.m., Jones previously confirmed to Mississippi Today. 

About three hours later, Williams got on a van to go to Tallahatchie, Natalie Gibson said. He was already on his way when she called Raymond in the early morning to check on him. 

“They assured me that as long as he’s in the (Tallahatchie) facility that nothing else will happen to him,” she said. 

But Williams later told her that several men he believed had attacked Isaac Gibson were sitting in the back of the van taunting him. Natalie Gibson said that Williams was familiar with the men, but that his attackers weren’t directly involved in the ongoing saga that Natalie Gibson believes is engulfing her family. 

As Williams was recovering in the medical area, Natalie Gibson said he told her that a lieutenant came by to ask him if he wanted to press charges. When Williams said yes, the lieutenant warned Williams that he could be killed in the jail, a statement that Williams interpreted as a threat. 

Natalie Gibson said a staff member assured her that Williams would not be moved out of the infirmary. But on May 17, she said she received a call that the lieutenant and a sergeant had forced Williams to leave by pepper-spraying him. 

Now, she wants Williams to go back to Raymond. 

“I don’t know who I can trust in Mississippi,” she said.