SPLC ACTION FUND: Report highlights how excessive juvenile incarceration hurts Mississippi’s children and wastes taxpayer money

JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the SPLC Action Fund released the report “Disposable Children: Juveniles with Long Prison Sentences” in Mississippi. The report details the significant rate at which youth incarceration occurs in the state of Mississippi and how detainment of these juveniles disproportionately affects Black youth. It also finds that the cost of incarcerating a juvenile is more than the cost of college tuition at two of Mississippi’s most recognized public universities.

“How we treat the youth is an investment into our own futures. By expanding parole eligibility for juvenile offenders, the state is giving them a timely chance that extends the opportunity for them to responsibly navigate society through academics or job training,” said SPLC Action Fund Regional Analyst Delvin Davis, the author of the report. “Policy leaders in Mississippi have an opportunity to create substantial change in the juvenile justice system by investing in anti-recidivism efforts that provide the tools necessary for these children to return to society in a way that positively impacts the community. This can only be done through reevaluation of how these youths are sentenced.”

Juvenile long-term sentencing also accounts for disproportionate rates of Black youth being incarcerated in MDOC. Since 2007, Black youth in Mississippi have made up for nearly 85% of all youth prison admissions in the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).

The financial toll of long-term youth sentencing also affects the state if Mississippi with the expense of detaining a person in a MDOC facility costing an average of $18,480 for one year. Other details include: 

• As of November 2021, there are 1,181 people currently incarcerated in MDOC prisons who were arrested and detained before age 18.  
• Youth locked up in adult prisons are twice as likely to be beaten by prison staff, five times more likely to be sexually assaulted and 36 times more likely to attempt suicide.   
• Out of those incarcerated as juveniles, 68 have been in prison for at least 20 years – collectively costing the state more than $1.2 million a year. 
• The expense of detaining a person in a MDOC facility for one year ($18,480) is more than a year’s in-state tuition at Ole Miss and Mississippi State University combined ($18,044).   

The report also includes recommendations for policy makers to evaluate the sentencing given to youth and expanding parole eligibility to incarcerated youth while also exploring the fiscal benefit that minimizing sentencing would have on the state.  

A copy of the report can be found here.