Republican Governor. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is urging conservative lawmakers to support broad reforms across the state’s judiciary system. He cites the passage of federal First Step Act, which President Donald Trump signed December. Bryant stated that “Much work remains on this critical area” in his State of the State speech earlier in the week. “As a former officer in law enforcement, I know that some people believe that our innovations will be soft on crime. Bryant stated that nothing could be further from the truth. Bryant stated, “If we want to ever lower our criminal rate, we need to start with those 33 percent who leave our correctional system only for three years.” “If President Donald J. Trump is able to pass nationwide criminal justice reform through an inefficient and hyper-partisan Congress, surely we are able to do so right here, Mississippi,” Bryant said. The House and Senate corrections panels will hold a joint hearing Monday to discuss details about the priorities of legislative leadership. These could include measures to make it easier for prisoners to return to prison and front-end reforms such as making drug courts more affordable. In his budget recommendation, the governor called for $1 million for workforce-development programs in the Department of Corrections, $6 million toward repairing Unit 29 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman and over $7 million to put correctional officer salaries in line with those of neighboring states. Pelicia Hall (Mississippi’s top prisons official) supports such measures. She told lawmakers this week that she is seeking $22.3 million for Parchman’s Unit 29 renovation and that the salaries for correctional officers should be comparable to those of private companies like Fedex, Cooper Tire, and Nissan. Wednesday morning’s Senate Corrections Committee hearing saw the corrections commissioner argue for her rest of her legislative wishlist. This includes removing the “CONVICT” label from prisoner uniforms, redesigning prisoner uniforms and allowing the agency to be removed from the state personnel board. Also, she wants to relax some requirements for complying the state’s Public Records Act. The commissioner stated that “a lot of the requesters want us to adhere strictly to the Public Records Act” and the deadlines it sets. The state law requires that public agencies respond to public records requests within seven days. However, extensions are permitted by law. Andrea Barnes, a staff attorney at the agency, believes that MDOC requesters are using the discovery process to avoid disclosure. She also believes that those who request multiple records in a short time frame are abusing it. The agency is concerned that the release of records requested by people could pose safety risks. Hall said that there should be limitations on the information you share. Mississippi legislators have passed two rounds in criminal justice reforms over the past five years. These reforms are aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, and the associated costs. These are other criminal justice bills filed in the past two weeks: