In secret, Mississippi Department of Corrections staff announced that 10 members of each prisoner’s immediate family would be allowed to visit them on any given day. According to prison warden memos, the list would include parents, grandparents, spouses and children as well as stepchildren and parental figures. Jody Owens III of Mississippi Southern Poverty Law Center and Paloma Wu of the ACLU of Mississippi said that the policy’s enforcement would be “unconstitutional”, violate federal laws and expose MDOC to lawsuit in federal court. The letter is heavily foot-noted with legal precedents, references to news articles and references to legal precedents. They claim that the policy if implemented would violate the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of prisoners as well as federal laws that allow inmates to visit clergy members and maintain familial relationships. The policy will also be detrimental to African Americans, who make up a large proportion of the prison population. Wu, the ACLU of Mississippi’s Legal Director, stated that Mississippi’s visitation regulations would be among the most restrictive in the country if clergy visits were prohibited. Grace Fisher, a spokeswoman from the corrections department said that the agency has not altered its visitation policy. Fisher stated in an email that “when and if” they decide to change the policy regarding this privilege, they will inform the public. Editor’s Note: This story has been updated in order to clarify that the Mississippi Department of Corrections didn’t announce a policy change. Instead, MDOC facility wardens sent memos to staff about a forthcoming change in policy._x000D