Governor Reeves should have done a Tik Tok to announce he is banning Tik Tok off of state phones.
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Mississippi Stories: Alyssa Killebrew, Part 2
In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey welcomes back Dr. Alyssa Killebrew to kick off 2023 and talk about resolutions, being more resilient in the new year and how we can focus on and improve our mental health in 2023.
Dr. Killebrew knows about resiliency. In December 2021, Dr. Killebrew’s longtime husband Keath, a successful farmer, died in a plane crash in South America. This came after the couple had recently lost their unborn child due to COVID-19. You will be inspired by her incredible strength and positive outlook. She talks about her and Keath’s creation of a camp called SEK Intensives to honor their youngest daughter and help both adolescents and their parents deal with life’s challenges.
Dr. Killebrew is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (No. 54-946), a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor. In 2005, she earned a Master’s degree of Education (M.Ed.) in Community Counseling from Delta State University. In 2008, she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Jackson State University and completed a residency at Valley Mental Health in Salt Lake City, Utah. She completed her post-doctoral year with the Mississippi Department of Corrections, where she was the Mental Health Director of the Youthful Offender Unit.
She started her Ridgeland, Mississippi-based private practice, Killebrew Psychological Services, LLC, in 2016, focusing her services primarily on mood disorders, PTSD, addiction and personality disorders. She specializes in Biofeedback, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, and Modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
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Supreme Court’s decision on felony suffrage hinges on understanding of state amendment process
Whether United States Supreme Court justices take the time to understand how Mississippi’s Constitution is amended could determine if they agree to hear a case asking that a provision prohibiting most people convicted of felonies from voting be found unconstitutional.
The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, like the Supreme Court a conservative-leaning court, appears not to have taken the time to understand the Mississippi Constitution amendment process and thus upheld the racist provision. In fairness to the 5th Circuit judges, they were basing their decision on arguments from the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who also either does not understand the amendment process or wants to ignore the limitations of the process.
Everyone, including Fitch’s office and the judges, agree that the intent of the felony disenfranchisement language, like other sections of the 1890 Constitution, was to prevent African Americans, then a majority in the state, from voting. The narrative of the day from the framers of the Constitution made that clear.
“The plan is to invest permanently the powers of government in the hands of the people who ought to have them: the white people,” James Zachariah George, a U.S. senator who was one of the architects of the 1890 Constitution and to this day has a statue in the U.S. Capitol representing Mississippi, said at the time. There was a belief that Black Mississippians would be more prone to commit certain lesser tier crimes. That is why crimes like bribery, theft and bigamy were deemed to be disenfranchising and murder and rape were not.
Fitch’s office argued and a majority of the 5th Circuit agreed that because the constitutional provision was amended twice – in 1950 and 1968 – to remove burglary and add murder and rape as disenfranchising crimes that the racial taint had been removed and thus the provision is not unconstitutional.
“The critical issue here is not the intent behind Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution, but whether the reenactment of Section 241 (the felony disenfranchisement language) in 1968 was free of intentional racial discrimination,” the nine-member majority of the 17-member court wrote in an unsigned opinion.
The majority concluded it was.
“Mississippi (represented by the office of the Attorney General) has conclusively shown that any taint associated with Section 241 has been cured,” the majority wrote.
The Mississippi Center for Justice and others on behalf of two disenfranchised Mississippians, Roy Harness and Kamal Karriem, are asking the nation’s highest court to reconsider the 5th Circuit ruling. A decision on whether the court will hear the case should be made during the first half of the year.
In asking the court to not hear the case, Fitch is continuing the argument that the racial taint had been removed by what happened in the 1950s and 1960s.
It is important to understand how the Mississippi Constitution is amended. The citizens never got an opportunity to vote on whether they wanted to remove the racist language. The Legislature voted to put on the ballots in the 1950s and 60s language eliminating burglary and adding murder and rape as disenfranchising crimes. No matter how the citizens voted on those amendments, the bulk of the constitutional provision would remain in place. That language imposes a lifetime ban on voting on those convicted of writing a bad check but not for major drug kingpins who do not lose their right to vote even while serving a prison sentence.
And to top it off, it does not take a history scholar to understand that in the 1950s and 60s there were a lot of efforts to discriminate against Black Mississippians being undertaken by the state’s political leaders.
Fitch pointed out that when making its ruling the 5th Circuit said, “Plaintiffs’ proposal that a state constitutional amendment must be voted on word for word to avoid any vestigial racial taint is radically prescriptive…. No subsequent case law supports plaintiffs’ novel, judicially crafted political theory of public consent.”
It would seem, though, that the vote should be on whether to continue an admittingly racist constitutional provision that has never been voted on by Mississippians.
So however the Supreme Court justices decide to handle the case, hopefully they will do so understanding all the circumstances surrounding the racist felony disenfranchisement provision.
As this case is considered, it is important to note Mississippi is one of less than 10 states with a permanent ban on voting.
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Hinds County electronic system knocked offline, blocking jail, courts and DA communication
An investigation is underway into a potential compromise of a shared electronic system among the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, courts and prosecutors that may have prevented individuals from making bail and returning to their families and jobs.
Sheriff Tyree Jones said two systems connected to the court and the district attorney’s office went down between Jan. 1 and Wednesday evening. Problems were discovered after a power outage when information technology staff noticed the server and system didn’t reboot like they usually do, he said.
“This is something that was totally unpreventable,” Jones said. “There were no signs that this was going to happen. It caught us all by surprise.”
On Friday, Jones said he wasn’t able to share much due to the ongoing investigation. He did not confirm whether the investigation was being conducted by the sheriff’s office. When asked whether hacking may have been involved, he said a cause is still being determined.
Jones said there was never a point when public safety was at risk or people were erroneously released from the jail. He said the system mostly impacted communication between offices and processes that were slowed down.
The sheriff’s office is back on track and catching up from last week, he said.
Charity Bruce, deputy director of consumer protection and public benefits at the Mississippi Center for Justice, said she spoke with a community member who said they tried to pay bail for a family member at the Hinds County jail but couldn’t because the system was down. They also weren’t able to add money to the detainee’s account, she said.
When Bruce called the sheriff’s office and the jail, she asked if there was a way for people to post bond without the electronic system.
Jones doesn’t dispute that detainees weren’t able to make bail and leave the jail while the system was down, but he knows that booking and the ability to electronically share case information, including whether a judge approved bail, were affected.
Generally, when a bail bondsman comes to pay bond for a detainee, jail staff is responsible for confirming the person was granted bond and there is paperwork documenting that, he said.
With the recent system failure, jail staff had to find another way to get that information, such as by calling the courthouse and having someone there locate a detainee’s case file, Jones said.
Harya Tarekegn, director of advocacy and policy at the Mississippi Center for Justice, said the situation raises due process concerns.
Bail is an amount of money set by a judge that a person must pay to get out of jail until their next court appearance. The goal of bail is to make sure defendants show up in court.
Whether bail is awarded and how much depends on several factors, including the alleged crime, whether a person is dangerous, community safety and their risk of fleeing.
Generally, the longer someone is in jail, the worse their outcome is, Tarekegn said. Being in jail often means a person misses work and income, and they aren’t able to see family, she said.
As a result of the Hinds County system going down, she said the Mississippi Center for Justice doesn’t know how many people missed the holidays with family or lost employment because they weren’t able to pay bail and be released.
“All of the implications of not being home are exacerbated by this,” Tarekegn said about detention.
Jones said the past week and a half showed that the sheriff’s office and courts can do some things manually.
Any needed preventative measures would be made by IT, he said. Even though the situation was unexpected, Jones said the sheriff’s office will be prepared if the system were to go offline again.
“This has been a learning experience,” Jones said.
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Mississippi Health Department taps new medical marijuana program leadership
Mississippi’s fledgling Medical Cannabis Program will have a new director starting next week, according to a state Health Department letter obtained by Mississippi Today.
The letter states that the marijuana office’s current attorney, Laura Goodson, will take over as department’s “acting director” starting Tuesday. The cannabis program’s current director, Kris Jones Adcock, has taken on a new department-wide role.
“Ms. Adcock was promoted – due to her excellent qualifications and ability to effectively develop and produce successful program areas within the Agency,” Department of Health spokesperson Liz Sharlot said in a statement. “Ms. Adcock will continue to maintain authority and oversight within the MMCP Program.”
Mississippi Today obtained another letter dated Nov. 29 that announced Adcock assumed a new position on Dec. 1 as the Department of Health’s assistant senior deputy. That position requires her to work alongside Senior Director Jim Craig in the department’s central offices.
That November letter, written by State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney, states Adcock would continue her existing roles – as head of the cannabis program and another department office focused on domestic violence – “during the transition.”
That means for the last five weeks, Adcock has been wearing three hats. Adcock was still working for the domestic violence office when she first took on the medical cannabis program last year.
“Mrs. Goodson brings a wealth of knowledge, legal and management experience to the program,” Adcock writes in her letter announcing the change. “I will continue to work with Mrs. Goodson to ensure continuity in the program.”
The letter also says the office will work quickly to fill the legal position Goodson held.
Goodson will still report to Adcock in her new position, according to the Health Department.
The leadership change comes as Mississippi’s first batches of legal cannabis are nearing entry to the market.
This week, the state gave the first lab – Steep Hill in Flowood – the greenlight to begin testing marijuana flower so it can be approved for sale.
Read more: Mississippi medical marijuana regulation ‘stuck in constipation mode’
The Health Department’s medical cannabis office has been under some scrutiny since October, when the surge of applications for licenses hit a bottleneck. The office charged with licensing cultivators, workers and labs had only three staffers and no investigators.
Mississippi Today also obtained copies of photos in October showing one cultivator was not following state growing regulations.
The Health Department said at that time it was trying to fill 25 positions for its medical marijuana program and had three more workers scheduled to start by Nov. 1.
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Zac Selmon named new athletic director at Mississippi State
Leah Beasley knows the inner workings of the athletic departments at the University of Oklahoma and Mississippi State. She has worked closely with Zac Selmon, the newly named athletic director at State, for the last eight months at Oklahoma.
Beasley says Mississippi State has hit a grand slam in the hiring of Selmon, who, at age 37, becomes Mississippi State’s first Black athletic director and the first at any of Mississippi’s three largest universities.
“I am so proud for Mississippi State and for Zac,” Beasley said from Norman, Okla., Friday, shortly after Selmon’s introductory press conference. “State people are going to love him. He is a relationship-based guy, as genuine as they come. He is really good at having a plan and sticking to it but an be nimble and flexible when the occasion calls for it. He’s ready for this.”
Beasley worked in the Mississippi State athletic department for nearly a decade before taking a job as associate executive athletic director at Oklahoma last April. She worked closely with Selmon in areas of communication, NIL (name, image and likeness), facilities and crisis management.
“You should see our Sooner athletics executive team messaging site today.” Beasley said. “The thing is filled with Mississippi State gifs and memes. Everybody is so happy for Zac.”
Mississippi State president Mark E. Keenum seemed more than happy. “…I think my focus during the interview process was how seamlessly Zac’s values of family, faith and character align with those of Mississippi State University,” Keenum said in introducing Selmon.
“This is an incredibly exciting opportunity and a professional journey that I’m ready to begin,” Selmon said. “I want to thank Dr. Keenum for his confidence in me. I’m grateful to my family for preparing me from an early age to work hard and trust in God. I have a deep and abiding respect for Mississippi State’s traditions and the role this university plays in taking care of what matters in this state and nation. My family and I are eager to join the Bulldog family.”
If the name Selmon sounds familiar to Mississippi Sports fans, it should.
Zac Selmon is a son of Dewey Selmon and nephew Lucius and Lee Roy Selmon (the famous football Selmon brothers of Eufaula, Oklahoma.) Keenum said Zac Selmon “grew up with powerful examples of winning at the highest levels and doing so with a deep commitment to sportsmanship and scholarship. Winning and winning the right way is in Zac Selmon’s DNA.”
Although his father and uncles are Oklahoma football deity, Zac Selmon played his college football at Wake Forest. At Wake, Selmon not only became a four-year starter for the Demon Deacons, but a dean’s list scholar graduating in 2007 with a degree in religion and international studies. He also holds a 2010 OU master’s degree in education with an emphasis in intercollegiate athletics administration.
Before Oklahoma, Zac Selmon also worked as an associate athletic director at North Carolina. Said Keenum, “I am convinced that in Zac Selmon we found an outstanding leader with a servant’s heart – a leader who has extensive experience at two Power Five universities and who understands and shares our relentless commitment to achieving and maintaining excellence.”
Zac Selmon has learned from two of the most respected athletic directors in the business, Joe Castiglione at Oklahoma and Bubba Cunningham at North Carolina.
Nevertheless, as with any hire, there will be skeptics. With Zac Selmon, many might question his having never worked in the SEC or as the CEO of an athletics department. At Oklahoma, he was a member of the school’s executive leadership team as deputy director for external engagement and advancement.
Count Castigilione among Zac Selmon’s most avid boosters. “We are so thrilled for and proud of Zac Selmon,” Castiglione said. “What a spectacular hire by Dr. Keenum and Mississippi State University. It’s been a true privilege to have Zac on our staff from his beginnings as a graduate assistant to his current role as deputy AD. We know he will be a visionary leader for MSU and the SEC. He’s genuine and authentic and helps make everyone around him better.”
In his remarks, Keenum thanked Bracky Brett, who has served as interim athletic director since John Cohen departed for Auburn last November. In the interim, Brett and MSU has dealt with the death of celebrated football coach Mike Leach and the hiring of his replacement Zach Arnett.
Said Keenum, “The continued success MSU has enjoyed during the search would not have been possible without the steady hand, hard work and wisdom of Bracky Brett. Our university, our fan base, owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude.”
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El demócrata Brandon Presley se postula para gobernador
Read in English: Democrat Brandon Presley is running for governor
Brandon Presley, un demócrata que ha pasado los últimos 15 años regulando las empresas de servicios públicos en la Comisión de Servicios Públicos del estado, anunciará hoy que se postula para gobernador en 2023.
Presley se encuentra entre los demócratas más notables que se postularon para el cargo más alto del estado este siglo, y se espera que su candidatura inspire una de las campañas más costosas y amargas en la historia del estado.
El nativo de Nettleton, de 45 años, lanzará su campaña y se presentará a muchos habitantes de Mississippi esta semana con un video de tres minutos que incluye una crítica feroz del actual gobernador Tate Reeves, el republicano en su primer mandato que anunció la semana pasada que buscará reelección.
“Me postulo para gobernador porque sé que Mississippi puede hacerlo mejor”, dice Presley en el video. “Tenemos un estado lleno de gente buena pero políticos horribles, y eso incluye a nuestro gobernador. Tate Reeves es un hombre con cero condenas y máxima corrupción. Se cuida a sí mismo y a sus amigos ricos en lugar de a las personas que lo pusieron en el cargo. Y ha quedado atrapado en medio del mayor escándalo de corrupción pública en la historia del estado”.
Presley, cuya estrategia inicial de campaña se centrará en el creciente escándalo de asistencia social del estado y otra corrupción en Jackson, ha construido una marca modesta a lo largo de los años como un político centrado en prioridades apolíticas como expandir el acceso a Internet de alta velocidad en todo el estado y regular las tarifas que electricidad y las compañías de agua cobran a los habitantes de Mississippi.
Los asesores cercanos a Presley esperan que sus antecedentes, comportamiento e ideas atraigan a muchos habitantes de Mississippi. Pariente del legendario artista Elvis, Presley habla con un profundo acento sureño. Fue criado en un pequeño pueblo por una madre soltera que trabajaba en una fábrica mientras luchaba por pagar las facturas, y durante mucho tiempo se ha detenido en esas primeras lecciones de vida en su vida pública.
Pero para librar una campaña ganadora en 2023, Presley tiene mucho trabajo por delante. Es un demócrata que se postula en Mississippi, uno de los electorados republicanos más confiables de la nación que se ha vuelto cada vez más resistente a los valores defendidos por muchos liberales modernos. El último demócrata en ganar la gobernación fue Ronnie Musgrove en 1999, y desde entonces el Partido Republicano ha reforzado su control sobre el complejo político del estado.
Aún así, Presley cree que tiene un caso convincente que presentar a todos los votantes de Mississippi, incluidos los republicanos. Un político moderado que se describe a sí mismo como pro-vida y pro-Segunda Enmienda, ha trabajado de cerca y con éxito con funcionarios republicanos. Como alcalde de Nettleton de 2001 a 2007, abogó por los recortes de impuestos y creó puestos de trabajo y, de manera infame, se pasó a votar por el republicano George W. Bush en las elecciones presidenciales de 2004. Varios republicanos de alto perfil han contribuido a su campaña en las últimas semanas, incluido un puñado de miembros del comité de finanzas de la campaña para gobernador de 2019 de Reeves.
LEER MÁS: Los republicanos notables entre los donantes de campaña de Brandon Presley
A fines del año pasado, un partidario de Presley incluso imprimió calcomanías que decían: “Republicanos por Presley: ¡Vamos, Brandon!”. Docenas de simpatizantes solicitaron las calcomanías cuando Presley publicó una foto de la calcomanía en Facebook.
Pero mientras Presley busca el apoyo de los votantes independientes o de derecha, su tarea principal será apuntalar el apoyo de los demócratas leales de Mississippi, que tradicionalmente representan entre el 40% y el 45% del electorado del estado. Alrededor del 75% de la base de votantes demócratas del estado son negros, y Presley tendrá que hablarles y apelarles, un objetivo fallido para muchos demócratas blancos recientes en todo el estado.
Sin embargo, ayudando a su causa, Presley ha trabajado durante años para desarrollar relaciones con varios de los principales líderes demócratas negros del estado. Presley se ha vuelto particularmente cercano al representante estadounidense Bennie Thompson, el demócrata más poderoso del estado que cuenta con una red política de décadas y una gran influencia con los habitantes negros de Mississippi. Presley dice que su campaña contratará a varios agentes políticos dentro del círculo de Thompson.
Aunque otros candidatos tienen hasta el 1 de febrero para anunciar sus candidaturas, los políticos pronostican que Presley y Reeves se enfrentarán en las elecciones generales de noviembre. Aunque Reeves, el gobernador republicano de primer mandato, ha sido consistentemente considerado como uno de los gobernadores más impopulares de la nación, disfrutará de la plataforma de titularidad y la chequera de campaña históricamente abultada que la acompaña.
Tendrá acceso a un personal de campaña masivo con décadas de experiencia electoral en todo el estado y una sólida infraestructura del Partido Republicano de Mississippi ya construida y lista para funcionar. Y la base de apoyo más sólida de Reeves se encuentra a lo largo de la costa del golfo de Mississippi, un centro de población y geográficamente más alejado del territorio natal de Presley.
Presley, por otro lado, tendrá que gastar una cantidad considerable de dinero para aumentar la identificación de su nombre entre los habitantes de Mississippi todos los días, y particularmente en la costa, donde pocas personas están familiarizadas con su marca política. Si bien es probable que obtenga el apoyo de los demócratas nacionales y tenga millones de dólares para gastar, no se espera que iguale la destreza de recaudación de fondos de Reeves.
Pero en llamadas con asesores y amigos en los últimos días, Presley se ha centrado en la importancia de las elecciones de 2023 para el futuro del estado, no en la dura política del momento.
“Podemos construir un Mississippi donde luchemos contra la corrupción, no abrazarla”, dice Presley en el video del anuncio. “Donde recortamos impuestos, bajamos el costo de la atención médica y creamos buenos empleos. Un Mississippi donde finalmente nos enfocamos en el futuro, no en el pasado. Un Mississippi en el que lideremos con fuerza, coraje y verdadera columna vertebral.
“Y si me haces tu gobernador, te prometo esto: nunca olvidaré quién soy, de dónde vengo o quién me envió”.
LEER MÁS: ¿Puede Presley ser el ganador estatal que los demócratas parecen no encontrar?
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MDOC transporta a las reclusas de las instalaciones del metro a la prisión de Delta
Read this story in English: MDOC shuttles women inmates from metro facility to Delta prison
Las mujeres encarceladas están siendo trasladadas de la prisión de mujeres designada por el estado en el centro de Mississippi a una prisión anteriormente clausurada en el Delta a más de cien millas de distancia.
Casi 300 mujeres en el Centro Correccional Central Mississippi en Pearl han sido reubicadas en el Centro Correccional Delta en Greenwood. El Departamento Correccional de Mississippi planea trasladar a todas las mujeres a Delta Correctional antes del 1 de marzo.
El comisionado de correccionales de Mississippi, Burl Cain, dijo que el objetivo es llevarlos a un mejor ambiente con escuela, capacitación y tratamiento.
“Nos estábamos quedando sin camas para mujeres”, le dijo a Mississippi Today. “Entonces, al mudar 300 a Delta, ayudó a expandir la población. Se trata de camas y de cómo las usamos”.
La reubicación se produce meses después de que se informara a las mujeres sobre los planes del MDOC de trasladarlas de su antigua vivienda en 1A Yard en CMCF a 720, una unidad para hombres cerca de la parte trasera de la prisión. Algunos se opusieron a la decisión y escribieron cartas que circularon en la prisión y se entregaron a los senadores estatales con la ayuda de sus familias.
Otra razón para mudarse a Delta Correctional fue mantener separados a hombres y mujeres en CMCF.
Algunos activistas ven el traslado al Delta como perjudicial para las mujeres y sus familias.
Pauline Rogers, presidenta de la organización sin fines de lucro de reingreso religioso de la Fundación RECH, dijo que comenzó a recibir llamadas telefónicas antes del Día de Acción de Gracias de mujeres que fueron trasladadas a Delta Correctional.
Los familiares de las mujeres encarceladas con las que ha hablado tampoco están contentos con la mudanza.
“Está empujando a las familias lejos y a las mujeres lejos de sus hijos”, dijo Rogers.
Para aquellos que están molestos por el cambio, Cain dijo que habrá un período de ajuste. A quienes llamaron, dijo que MDOC les explicó cómo la medida es para el beneficio de las mujeres y los planes para los programas y la educación en Delta Correctional.
Cuando visitó la prisión de Delta esta semana, Cain dijo que las mujeres pueden ver que MDOC se preocupa por enseñarles habilidades y oficios para ayudarlas cuando salen de prisión. También dijo que habló con mujeres que todavía están en CMCF y que parecen estar listas para la mudanza.
“Creo que es un orgullo que tengan su prisión y su propio lugar”, dijo Cain.
Los miembros de la familia también han dicho que a sus seres queridos encarcelados les han quitado artículos como la higiene personal, dijo Rogers.
Cain dijo que mientras los artículos estuvieran en la lista de artículos permitidos, podrían ser llevados a Delta Correctional. La cantina estará disponible para suministrar cualquier otro producto si fuera necesario, dijo.
Todas las prisiones MDOC tienen un proveedor médico en el sitio, pero si alguien necesita ser transportado a un hospital, el más cercano sería el Hospital Greenwood Leflore, que está a punto de cerrar.
Cain dijo que el acceso médico de las mujeres sería el mismo que el de los residentes de Greenwood. Unas 50 mujeres con problemas médicos que los servicios médicos de la prisión no podían manejar fueron trasladadas de regreso a CMCF, dijo.
Delta Correctional cerró en 2012 después de operar como una prisión privada. Reabrió como un centro de trabajo comunitario para alojar a personas en libertad condicional y en libertad condicional que violan los términos de supervisión bajo un programa de sanción alternativa, según un comunicado de prensa del MDOC de 2018.
Los servicios del centro de restitución y trabajo se reubicarán en otro lugar, dijo Cain. El personal del centro ahora trabaja en la prisión y él espera contratar gente del área de Greenwood, incluidas personas que puedan supervisar la programación de la prisión.
Cain tiene planes para Delta Correctional.
“Se centrará en el reingreso, las habilidades y el comercio, y estarán ocupados ya que pueden ir a la escuela”, dijo.
Se espera que los programas de artes culinarias y paisajismo, la capacitación en servicio de limpieza y un invernadero lleguen a Delta Correctional junto con el tratamiento de alcohol y drogas, clubes y servicios como una peluquería.
También habrá aire acondicionado, que Cain dijo que aún no está disponible en CMCF. La Penitenciaría del Estado de Mississippi en Parchman fue la primera prisión en tener aire acondicionado instalado el verano pasado.
Antes de que llegaran las mujeres, se reparó el techo de Delta Correctional y se actualizaron la cocina y las duchas, dijo Cain.
A pesar de los planes de lo que MDOC planea hacer en la prisión, a Rogers le preocupa que poner a las mujeres en un entorno angustiado como el Delta las alejará de recursos como programación, actividades y programas de tratamiento y acceso a esos recursos.
“Es difícil mover a una población sin nada”, dijo. “Los estás moviendo de todo a nada”.
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Rep. Bennie Thompson endorses Brandon Presley in governor’s race
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s longest serving congressional delegate and only Democrat in Washington, endorsed Brandon Presley on Thursday — the same day Presley announced his candidacy for governor.
READ MORE: Democrat Brandon Presley is running for governor
An endorsement from Thompson, who is selective about such moves, is notable. He sat out the 2019 governor’s race, when former Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood lost to now-Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican. Thompson’s direct endorsement typically carries weight with Black Democrats, who make up a majority of the state’s traditionally Democratic electorate.
Presley, a Democrat who has served as a public service commissioner since 2007, has developed a close working relationship with Thompson over the past several years. They’ve worked particularly closely together in recent weeks on finding solutions for the Jackson water crisis.
“Right now, our state is in desperate need of a leader who will put the people first and stamp out corruption, not embrace it,” Thompson said in a Thursday statement. “A leader who will be a partner in fixing the Jackson water crisis, not turn a blind eye to it. And someone that will lower the cost of healthcare and fight for a better education for all of our kids.”
Presley, who announced earlier Thursday that he is running for governor, is among the most notable Democrats to run for the state’s highest office this century, and his candidacy is expected to inspire one of the most expensive and bitter campaigns in state history.
The 45-year-old Nettleton native launched his gubernatorial campaign and introduced himself to many Mississippians this week with a three-minute video that includes a blistering critique of Reeves, the first-term Republican who announced last week he will seek reelection.
Advisers close to Presley hope his background, demeanor and ideas appeal to many Mississippians, not just Democrats. A relative of legendary performer Elvis, Presley speaks in a deep Southern drawl. He was raised in a small town by a single mother who worked in a factory while struggling to pay bills, and he has long dwelled on those early life lessons in his public life.
Presley believes he has a compelling case to make to every Mississippi voter, including Republicans. A political moderate who self describes as pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, he’s worked closely and successfully with GOP officials. As Nettleton mayor from 2001-2007, he championed tax cuts and brought in jobs and infamously crossed over to vote for Republican George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Several high-profile Republicans have given to his campaign in recent weeks, including a handful of members of Reeves’ 2019 gubernatorial campaign finance committee.
But while Presley courts support from independent or right-leaning voters, his principal task will be shoring up support from loyal Mississippi Democrats, who traditionally make up between 40-45% of the state’s electorate. About 75% of the state’s Democratic base of voters are Black, and Presley will have to speak to and appeal to them — a failed objective for many recent white statewide Democrats.
Thompson’s speedy endorsement could prove important to his 2023 chances.
“Mississippians deserve a leader who cares,” Thompson said in the statement. “That’s who Brandon Presley is, it’s exactly what he will do and why he has my support.”
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