Here in Mississippi, we cage and age people.
The United States imprisons 311 out of every 100,000 residents, according to a 2023 report from the Department of Justice. Mississippi imprisons more than twice that number at 661 people per 100,000.
Compounded by antiquated laws surrounding criminal justice like voting bans for most felonies and the ability for prosecutors to increase habitual offender terms, Mississippi embodies the old adage, “We’ll lock you up and throw away the key.”
Wesley E. Bridges
Take the women known as the Mississippi 5. Evelyn Smith, 80; Loretta Pierre and Lisa Crevitt, 59; Linda Ross, 61; and Anita Krecic, 65. Smith was sentenced to life with parole possibility but denied again as recently as 2022. Her next date of parole hearing is scheduled for 2027. Is she a danger to society at 80? Could Mississippi benefit from her release and use her incarceration fees on another budget item? It’s very possible we’ll never know.
What we do know is Mississippi is caging and aging these women. One of the five, Loretta Pierre, was charged with homicide in 1985. After six trials, she was convicted and sentenced to life with possibility of parole. However, she’s been denied parole 14 times; more than any other woman in Mississippi’s parole history. Pierre’s next parole hearing is scheduled for December 2025. By this date, her case will be 40 years old. Her son — with whom she was pregnant at the time of her arrest — is now 38 years old with three children of his own. Is 40 years justice?
With more than 20 years as clergy and 12 as a pastor, I have no life experience comparable to these five women, nor any other of my brothers and sisters incarcerated. I’ve never endured solitary confinement. I’ve never had parole denied once, not to mention 14 times. I cannot speak to having no electronic money for toiletries, food and other necessities or having shower privileges revoked or mishandled.
I wonder how to be an exponential component in building a new criminal justice machine.
“I stand with the Mississippi Five as a voice crying in the wilderness.”
I soon came to realize the topic of criminal justice is taboo around the temple. How can that be? Everyone knows someone impacted by it. Unfortunately, we all know someone incarcerated. Whether a family member or someone in the neighborhood. Certainly, we pastors have a high probability of having members incarcerated or formerly incarcerated.
I’ve been approached on so many occasions by parishioners from other races or churches, saying they feel like they can’t speak about this issue. They fear being ridiculed, ostracized, even marginalized within their own congregations. I knew then, I was called to this arena to stand.
So I stand with the Mississippi Five as a voice crying in the wilderness. I affirm that we as a state see their humanity. Advocate to grant second chances to these aged women and others like them. Pass new legislation that makes moral and fiscal sense.
The Mississippi 5 are the last remaining women in Mississippi sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 10 years before the state virtually abolished parole in 1995. Although they are, ostensibly, parole-eligible, the state has routinely denied their release without reasonable justification. They each have been imprisoned for more than 30 years.
Linda Ross has completed every rehabilitation course made available to her. The fact that she states these courses are never brought up at parole hearings can only signify that MDOC and the state of Mississippi don’t value their own metrics. Smith said she took on jobs, mentored younger women, kept a nearly spotless institutional record on her path to become redeemable in the eyes of the parole board. The board only points to the nature of their crimes.
Mississippi must be better than this. It’s time to end mass incarceration, starting with these five women.
Wesley E. Bridges serves as CEO of Clergy for Prison Reform and is Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project.