Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 22, 2002: AGO 000014909 (February 22, 2002)

AGO 000014909.

Dear Mr. Johnson:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion and has assigned it to me for response. Your letter reads as follows:

Concerning the mandated matter of redistricting of supervisor road districts in each county as a result of the 2000 Census, I have a private prison located in my supervisor district that houses daily approximately 850-900 inmates of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

My question is, in redistricting the five supervisor districts of Wilkinson County, would the state inmate population of the prison be included in the census figures used to divide and balance the populations of the districts?

Miss. Code Section 47-1-63 states that persons incarcerated in a prison under the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Department of Corrections are not residents of the county where the facility is located, so would these same incarcerated persons be used in deciding the makeup of the county's supervisor districts?

* * * * *

Our office has previously opined that inmates under the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Department of Corrections as well as inmates of local jurisdictions in local jails may not use the facility in which they are housed as his or her address for voter registration purposes. MS AG Op., Scott (October 27, 2000). They are not deemed "residents" of that county or locality, as incarceration cannot be viewed as a voluntary abandonment of residency in one locale in favor of residency in the facility or jail. For purposes of the Census, these individuals should have been counted in their actual place of residence. Such inmates should not be used in determining the population of county supervisor districts for redistricting purposes by virtue of their temporary presence in a detention facility or jail in the county, unless their actual place of residence is also in the county.

If our office may be of further assistance, please advise.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Heather P. Wagner

Assistant Attorney General