This is The Marshall Project - Jackson’s newsletter, a monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Mississippi gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters.
A central Mississippi prosecutor thought he was helping pregnant women, until he was presented with the facts by The Marshall Project and Mississippi Today. Read our final story of the year, plus a recap of some of our best work of 2024 on public defense and voting.
‘I believe we can all do better’
A central Mississippi prosecutor who routinely prosecuted women for using drugs while pregnant thought he was giving defendants a break by allowing them to enter guilty pleas and graduate from drug court.
But at least three women ended up serving 20-year prison terms for failing those probation requirements. Brandy Moore, the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, chose to take her case to trial when given the same plea option. The prosecutor then backed down. In collaboration with Mississippi Today, Anna Wolfe has our story. More from The Marshall Project: Our original coverage of how dozens of women have been charged under an ambiguous state law.
Some of The Marshall Project - Jackson’s best stories of 2024
Defense denied. Mississippi’s patchwork public defense system has long been criticized as being among the worst in the country, but some legislators and officials continue to resist reform.
This year, The Marshall Project - Jackson explored the consequences, ranging from a single mother who was denied legal counsel without any questions about her finances, to a local jail where a man spent more than 18 months locked up on drug charges without a lawyer.
– Caleb Bedillion
Ballot access blocked. Mississippi’s felony voting ban dates back to the state’s constitution, which was drafted in 1890 by men who wanted to maintain White supremacy. Despite several efforts to address it, that law remains in place today.
Our coverage spans more than 150 years, from people like Charles Caldwell, a Black former state senator who was killed in 1875 in an effort to maintain White political control, to people like John Cook and Gerald Laird, who cannot vote today because the law remains in place.
– Caleb Bedillion and Daja E. Henry
Illuminating judicial elections. Do you know your judges? The Marshall Project - Jackson partnered with Mississippi Today to provide clarity in a crowded election field.
The result was a judicial election guide and a questionnaire from which readers learned more about the candidates. Civic and community groups adapted the guide into flyers, posters and social media graphics, and distributed them throughout the community.
I learned so much reporting about each race, from digging through campaign finance reports to figuring out how to define the differences between candidates in a nonpartisan race. Elections are over, but you can still use the judicial election guide to learn more about whom Mississippians elected and the decisions these judges have made.
– Daja E. Henry
Did someone you care about get injured or die in a Mississippi prison?
The Marshall Project wants to know about deaths, injuries or mistreatment that happened in state prisons to incarcerated people or prison employees. If there’s an incident you think we should investigate, please contact us through this form or jackson@themarshallproject.org. All tips are confidential.
