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State Reform Profile

Mississippi

Mississippi has limited reform. SB 2123 made some progress on parole eligibility for non-violent offenders.

ALTREFORM COMPOSITE65/100

Key Statistics

Incarceration Rate
636
per 100,000 residents
Annual Cost
$18K
per incarcerated person
3-Year Recidivism
73%
reincarcerated within 3 yrs
Racial Disparity
3.8×
Black vs. White incarceration
Alt. Programs
11
active diversion programs
Reform Initiatives
3
tracked by AltReform

Incarceration by Race

MS Overall636
National Avg568
Black (est.)1,450
White (est.)300

Incarceration rate per 100,000 residents. Racial estimates based on BJS/Sentencing Project methodology.

Recidivism Rate

73%3-year recidivism
This stateNational avg: 67%

Percent of people reincarcerated within 3 years of release. Source: BJS recidivism data series.

Cost vs. Alternatives

$18K
incarceration/yr
vs.
~$5K
diversion/yr

Active & Passed Reforms

3 initiatives

SB 2123 – Parole ReformView full details →

Restored parole eligibility for non-violent offenders serving long sentences.

PassedSentencing2021
AltReform Score68/100

Drug Court ExpansionView full details →

Expanded drug court programs to 22 counties.

ActiveDrug Policy2019
AltReform Score66/100

Reentry Resource CenterView full details →

One-stop reentry services for people leaving MS prisons.

ActiveReentry2020
AltReform Score62/100

Data Sources & Methodology

Reform data sourced from state legislative records, BJS Criminal Justice Statistics, the Vera Institute Incarceration Trends dataset, and The Sentencing Project. AltReform prediction scores (0,100) are generated by our ML model trained on 20+ years of state-level reform outcomes, weighting recidivism reduction, racial equity impact, cost-effectiveness, and political feasibility. Statistics are the most recent available (2021,2024).

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