Mississippi
Entries where the acting authority was Mississippi (MS), whatever state or country the events took place in.
Jurisdiction is who acted, not where it happened. Federal conduct inside Mississippi is filed under Federal, not here.
Institutions seated here (1)
Bodies whose own seat of authority is Mississippi. They appear in entries under other jurisdictions too — an institution acts outside its own seat constantly — so this is not the same set as the entries below.
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Mississippi Legislature 9 entries
The Mississippi Legislature is the state's bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
2026 Events (10)
Mississippi prison officials revoked tablet access for 34 death row inmates hours after advocacy story published
On August 7, 2026, Mississippi Department of Corrections officials revoked personal tablet access for all 34 men held in Unit 17, the death row unit at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, within two hours of Mississippi Today publishing a story about the men's advocacy work with the nonprofit Humans Remain. The men said officials cited the unit's restricted status, advocate Liz McCann's use of the devices to contact the men, and the story's publication itself as reasons for the removal; MDOC did not respond to a request for comment on the action or when access might be restored. One month later, the tablets had not been returned.
Court monitor found Mississippi child welfare agency met only 22 of 107 court-ordered foster-care safety standards in 2025
A federal court monitor's report filed July 29, 2026 in the Olivia Y. v. Reeves consent-decree lawsuit found Mississippi's Department of Child Protection Services met only 22 of 107 applicable child-safety measures during 2025, including at least 22 congregate-care placements of children under age 10 lacking required approval and abuse investigations completed on time only about half the time against a 90% standard. The monitor also found the department undercounted how many foster children were victims of abuse in its care. The report was filed as the state, represented by Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office, seeks to have the underlying lawsuit dismissed on grounds it has made "sufficient progress."
Marshall Project investigation reveals Hinds County jail holding dozens without grand jury indictment
Dozens of people — perhaps many more — have been held in Hinds County's Raymond Detention Center in Mississippi for months without receiving a grand jury indictment from the district attorney, The Marshall Project reported on July 21, 2026. A prior Marshall Project investigation found at least 60 people jailed for more than three months without indictment as of December 2025, including at least five held for over a year. The practice persists despite a court-ordered federal receivership, and federal receiver Wendell France warned District Attorney Jody Owens the detention delays were "unsustainable and legally problematic."
Mielun Butler, 18, stomped to death in custody at Hinds County Detention Center
Mielun Butler, an 18-year-old booked into the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond, Mississippi on July 1, 2026, was stomped to death in custody by the morning of July 3, 2026, the county coroner said. Coroner Jeremiah Howard said it appeared Butler "had shoe prints all over his head," and a video circulating on social media showed a person kicking his limp, bloodied body. The facility, overseen by the Hinds County Sheriff's Office, has a documented history of custodial-safety failures and operates under a court-appointed federal receiver.
Senatobia police refused to release the incident report and camera footage of the shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley
Nearly three weeks after a Senatobia police officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside a Walmart, city police and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation refused repeated public-records requests for the incident report, body-worn and dashboard camera footage, and store surveillance video. A Senatobia sergeant declined to release the incident report despite Mississippi law making such records public, and the family's attorneys said every footage request had been denied.
Senatobia, Mississippi police officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley while firing into a car during a shoplifting call
On June 14, 2026, a Senatobia Police Department officer responding to a Walmart shoplifting call fired a shotgun into a car in the store's parking lot, killing 1-year-old Kohen Wiley and critically wounding a passenger. Police said the driver had steered the vehicle toward an officer, nearly striking them; the child's mother said the car was backing away and that she had told officers a baby was inside. The officer was placed on administrative leave, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation opened an independent inquiry.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2114 directing state police to compile a registry of undocumented residents and criminalizing unlawful presence
On April 8, 2026, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2114, which directs the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to determine on an ongoing two-year basis the number and identities of all undocumented residents in the state, collecting names, addresses, country of origin, minor status, criminal history, and deportation-proceeding status. The law also criminalizes unlawful presence as a state offense, carrying a six-month minimum with felony enhancements, and requires state and county agencies to seek 287(g) cooperation agreements with ICE. Civil-rights groups warned the registry invites racial profiling and echoes historical list-making against disfavored groups.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2322 requiring driver's licenses to show sex assigned at birth and nullifying court-ordered gender changes
On April 8, 2026, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2322, which requires the sex designation on every Mississippi driver's license to reflect the holder's sex as determined at birth and provides that a court order recognizing a change of gender "shall have no effect" on the sex indicated on a license. The law permits changes only for a scrivener's error or a verified disorder of sex development, barring transgender residents from obtaining or renewing a license that matches their gender identity. The measure took effect July 1, 2026.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed the SHIELD Act requiring citizenship checks for new voters and annual ICE voter-roll audits
On April 1, 2026, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed the SHIELD Act, requiring local election officials to run additional citizenship checks on voter-registration applicants who lack or cannot provide a driver's-license number, effective July 1, 2026. The law also requires Mississippi's secretary of state to annually cross-check the voter rolls against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database to flag potential noncitizens for eligibility review. The Southern Poverty Law Center said the law could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Mississippians who lack a passport or birth certificate, or whose surnames no longer match their birth certificates due to marriage.
Mississippi Secretary of State Watson rolled out unverified Experian data, marking 50,000 voters inactive and blocking some from March primaries
In July 2025, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson's office distributed unverified consumer credit address data from Experian to all county election officials statewide, to be used as a new tool to identify voters who may have moved. Experian's TrueTrace product, which infers likely addresses from spending patterns, does not verify residency — a limitation Experian disclosed to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Mississippi Today's investigation found the unverified data was used to mark approximately 50,000 registered voters inactive, some of whom still resided at their registered addresses and were blocked from casting a counted ballot during the March 10, 2026 congressional primaries.
2025 Events (2)
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed HB 1193 banning DEI programs and barring instruction on transgender identity and gender theory in public schools
On April 17, 2025, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 1193, banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and offices in the state's K-12 public schools and public universities. The law separately bars teaching or promoting concepts described as "transgender ideology, gender-neutral pronouns, heteronormativity, gender theory, sexual privilege or any related formulation," and requires institutions to affirm a two-sex, chromosome-based definition of gender. A federal judge later found the law unconstitutionally vague and issued a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement statewide.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed HB 188 mandating correctional-facility housing and restroom segregation by sex assigned at birth
On March 18, 2025, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed House Bill 188, the "Dignity and Safety for Incarcerated Women Act," after it passed the House 103-4 on February 10, 2025 and the Senate 48-0 on March 7, 2025. The law defines "sex" in state corrections law as biological sex observed or verified at birth and requires restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in Mississippi correctional facilities to be segregated on that basis rather than gender identity. It also creates a private civil cause of action letting an incarcerated person sue a facility for declaratory and injunctive relief if they encounter someone of the opposite biological sex in those spaces.
2024 Events (2)
Hinds County DA Jody Owens accepted at least $115,000 in cash bribes and facilitated payments to Jackson officials
Between October 2023 and May 2024, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens orchestrated a scheme in which he accepted at least $115,000 in cash from two undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers seeking support for a Jackson hotel project, and facilitated more than $80,000 in bribes to city officials, including $50,000 to then-Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba's reelection campaign. Owens, Lumumba, and then-Councilman Aaron Banks were federally indicted and arraigned on November 7, 2024, and all three later pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges; Owens resigned as district attorney. Sentencing for all three is set for October 15, 2026.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed SB 2753 requiring birth-sex-based restrooms and housing in public schools and universities
On May 13, 2024, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2753, the "Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly Act" (SAFER Act), into law. The measure requires public schools, community colleges, and universities to designate restrooms, changing facilities, and student housing by sex "determined solely by a birth" and codifies statewide definitions of "male" and "female" fixed at birth, creating a private civil cause of action to enforce it. Sponsored by Sen. Josh Harkins and passed by the Mississippi Legislature, the law took effect immediately.
2023 Events (1)
Mississippi enacted HB1125 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and revoking providers' licenses
On February 28, 2023, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed HB1125, the Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures (REAP) Act, making Mississippi the seventh state to bar minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender-transition surgery. The law, which took effect immediately, strips the medical license of any provider who furnishes such care, blocks public funds and Medicaid from covering it, and lets patients sue providers for up to 30 years. It was passed by the Republican-led Mississippi Legislature over objections from LGBTQ advocates and medical groups.
2021 Events (2)
Mississippi prison healthcare contractors delayed woman's cancer diagnosis for a decade, concealed result until days before her release
Prison healthcare contractors overseeing Susie Balfour's care at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl allowed mammogram follow-ups to lapse for up to three years at a time between 2011 and 2021, despite prison physicians' own recommendation for annual and later twice-yearly screening. A November 3, 2021 biopsy found her breast cancer had progressed to an advanced stage; Balfour said she was not told of the result until days before her December 27, 2021 release. She died of the metastasized cancer in 2025.
Mississippi Gov. Reeves signed SB 2536 banning transgender students from women's and girls' school sports
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed SB 2536, the "Mississippi Fairness Act," on March 11, 2021, barring transgender students from competing on women's and girls' sports teams at the state's public K-12 schools and universities. The bill designates those teams as not "open to students of the male sex" without establishing how sex is determined or how eligibility disputes are resolved. It was the first anti- transgender law enacted in the United States that year.
2016 Events (1)
Mississippi Gov. Bryant signed HB 1523, authorizing religion-based denial of service to LGBT people
On April 5, 2016, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed HB 1523, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," into law. The statute lets state employees, private businesses, religious organizations, and state-funded providers refuse services based on three specified religious beliefs about marriage, sex, and gender, shielding refusal of marriage licenses to same-sex couples and denial of services to LGBT people and unmarried people. A federal judge enjoined the law in June 2016, but the Fifth Circuit later reversed on standing grounds and it took effect on October 9, 2017.
2004 Events (1)
Mississippi Legislature passed HCR 56 proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; enacted as Section 263-A
On April 14, 2004, the Mississippi Legislature completed passage of House Concurrent Resolution 56, enrolling a proposed constitutional amendment and referring it to the statewide ballot as Chapter 620. The resolution defined marriage as valid in Mississippi only between a man and a woman and declared same-gender marriages from other jurisdictions void and unenforceable, eventually ratified as Article XIV, Section 263-A of the Mississippi Constitution.