Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss.— Mississippi’s corrections commissioner says he wants to put lifers back to work.
Marshall Fisher tells The Clarion-Ledger that a visit to the Louisiana State Penitentiary showed him that inmates sentenced to life in prison can teach job skills to inmates with shorter sentences.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections has forbidden work details to lifers since one escaped from a job two years ago.
Mississippi’s 18,000 inmates include more than 2,000 serving life.
Louisiana’s program lets some nonviolent offenders with shorter sentences their GEDs and learn trades.
Officials say half of all Louisiana inmates return to prison within five years after release, but only one-tenth of those who’ve finished the program do so.
Fisher says his department has begun changing policies with an eye toward work for inmates serving life.