Prisoner advocates say transitional housing expansions are much-needed

With the highest incarceration rate in the country, only three facilities – located in Madison, Meridian and Jackson – are currently under contract with the Mississippi Department of Corrections to provide transitional housing services. 

Those three facilities together combine for a total of 105 beds – a number Corrections committee chair and district 34 Senator Juan Barnett believes is far too low.

“We realize these are all centered in and around the Jackson area, which limits individuals with the opportunity to go anywhere else. My whole purpose is to make sure that our transitional housing are these places we have that can assist or not confine to one area of the state,” said Barnett. “We know that everyone who has been released that may not have an address to go to are not necessarily from Rankin, Hinds or Madison county.”

Legislators joined Barnett in expressing concern over what that concentration means both for communities and individuals released after their sentence, especially when finding employment for those previously convicted of a felony. 

“This is not just about finding somewhere for people to have a bed because if that’s what we’re doing, then the only thing we’re doing is continuing with warehousing. I don’t want us to stay in the same condition we’ve been in with that,” Barnett said. 

“When I look back at MDOC and everything that has happened, it has always just been a warehouse division to me. And we don’t want to be in that business of warehousing.”

Mississippi’s government currently contributes $20 per day for each bed filled, capping each individual stay at a 6-month maximum. 

Tiara Connolly owns and operates Sober Living Residential in Meridian, one of the three locations under contract with MDOC. Her facility provides recently released prisoners with services stretching far beyond just housing. They offer free clothing, toiletries, medication, and medical and psychiatric evaluations, all in addition to helping residents obtain social security and I.D. cards to find employment with local partners. 

She says she's thankful for the partnership with the MDOC, but that the funding leaves considerable gaps she has to make up for herself.

“The biggest barrier as a provider is finances. I took my personal money to get it started and I’m unfortunately still taking personal money to continue to sustain it because I realized early on that it takes more than just housing,” she said. “There are so many more things that we’re having to do that cost.”

“We're currently working with five staff members, but what we do would easily take 10 plus, so it has taken a lot of charitable hours to make it happen. It gives us great pleasure to see the residents that come out and actually get a job and back into housing and reconnect with their families – that's what's keeping us going. It's definitely not the amount of money that's coming out of the business at all.”

For Connolly, a dual-certified medical psychiatric nurse practitioner, that has meant working two full-time and three contract jobs over the past seven years. 

“I started it just out of passion because I know there are great people that make poor choices and end up in prison, including my mom. She served 18 months in prison, and when she was released I saw her help a lot of individuals after the fact. it's one of the reasons why I took a lot of my personal money.”

Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain said the department has received multiple requests to expand transitional housing to more facilities, and are still working through them.