Bill Text: MS SB2773 | 2026 | Regular Session | Introduced

Mississippi Senate Bill 2773

Introduced

Bill Title: "Improving Mental Healthcare in the Re-Entry System Act of 2026"; enact.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2026-02-03 - Died In Committee [SB2773 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2026-SB2773-Introduced.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2026 Regular Session

To: Corrections; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Jackson

Senate Bill 2773

AN ACT ENTITLED THE "IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTHCARE IN THE RE-ENTRY SYSTEM ACT OF 2026"; TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTIONS, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, TO ESTABLISH A GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPLEMENT AND ADMINISTER MENTAL HEALTH SCREENINGS TO INDIVIDUALS AT INTAKE INTO AN ELIGIBLE DETENTION CENTER AND REFER SUCH INDIVIDUALS TO MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS BEFORE OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER EXIT FROM AN ELIGIBLE DETENTION CENTER, AS APPLICABLE, TO PROVIDE FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH LIAISON STAFF AT EACH ELIGIBLE DETENTION CENTER; TO PROVIDE FOR BRIEF MENTAL HEALTH SURVEYS FOR SUCH INDIVIDUALS; TO PROVIDE FOR MENTAL HEALTH OUTREACH TEAMS TO MAKE CONTACT ATTEMPTS WITH SUCH INDIVIDUALS; TO PROVIDE FOR IMPACT EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS; TO PROVIDE THAT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GRANT PROGRAM SHALL BE THROUGH THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS IN COORDINATION WITH THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH; TO PROVIDE FOR MANDATORY PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION AND VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION IN TREATMENT PROGRAMS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Improving Mental Healthcare in the Re-Entry System Act of 2026."

SECTION 2. Grant program. (1) The Mississippi Department of Corrections shall implement the additional re-entry programs prescribed in this act.

(2) Not later than ninety (90) days after the date of the enactment of this act, the Commissioner of Corrections with the assistance of the the Attorney General shall establish a grant program to implement and administer mental health screenings to individuals at intake into an eligible detention center and refer such individuals to mental healthcare providers before or immediately after exit from an eligible detention center, as applicable.

(3) In carrying out the program, the Commissioner of Corrections may award a grant on a competitive basis to an eligible recipient in accordance with this section.

(4) The commissioner may award a grant under the program to a state or locality, determined by the commissioner to carry out a project described in subsection (5) of this section.

(5) (a) To be eligible for a grant under the program, a state or locality shall hire a mental health liaison staff member for each eligible detention center under its jurisdiction. If an eligible detention center has a small enough population, subject to approval by the advisory board, one (1) mental health liaison staff member may cover multiple detention centers. The mental health liaison staff member shall be responsible for:

(i) Coordinating efforts between the prison or jail and mental health providers in the local region to help individuals currently or formerly in prison or jail access mental healthcare;

(ii) Coordinating with the advisory board to ensure that the program is operating in accordance with this section; and

(iii) Overseeing and coordinating activities of the outreach team (as described in subsection (8) of this section).

(b) To be eligible for a grant under the program, a state or locality shall submit a plan to the advisory board explaining how the program established shall meet the criteria under subsection (6) of this section.

(c) To be eligible for a grant under the program, a state or locality shall partner with the advisory board and an independent research organization to evaluate the impact of their program as a condition of receiving a grant, and are also required to share relevant data with the advisory board and the research organization contracted with by the commissioner regarding individuals' participation in the mental health screen and referral program and their arrest, arraignment and incarceration rates.

(6) Grant funds awarded under the program may only be used to:

(a) Develop and administer a brief mental health screening survey as required under subsection (7) of this section.

(b) Develop any technology necessary for a prison or jail to provide the survey.

(d) Establish an outreach team pursuant to subsection (8) of this section to refer an individual, if their responses to the survey indicate severe mental illness, to a local mental healthcare provider for further assessment and outreach, admission (when necessary), and support for that individual in re-establishing ties with a mental health provider.

(e) Pay the salary or overtime pay of an outreach team as established, including providing direct funding to a prison, jail, or mental health center to compensate staff members.

(7) The mental health screening survey developed and administered under subsection (6) of this section shall:

(a) Be composed of five (5) to ten (10) questions.

(b) Be based on the questions and content of the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS).

(d) Ask individuals about the symptoms of severe mental illness they may be experiencing or have experienced and any prior use of mental health-related medications or inpatient care.

(e) Identify the individual's place of residence.

(f) Be administered by a trained staff member at the jail or prison to all entering individuals who are incarcerated in the jail or prison and to all incarcerated individuals who entered the jail or prison before the survey was implemented.

(8) (a) A referral to a mental healthcare provider, as described in subsection (6) of this section, shall be made by a mental health outreach team that is composed of:

(i) Mental healthcare professionals and clinicians from mental healthcare centers local to the prison or jail;

(ii) Staff from the jail or prison, when applicable; and

(iii) A mental health liaison staff member who shall oversee the outreach team.

(b) If an individual has been determined to need a referral to a mental healthcare provider, the mental health outreach team shall be notified immediately by jail or prison staff and informed, when applicable, of the individual's release date from such jail or prison and the individual's trial date.

(c) (i) A mental health outreach team member shall first attempt to contact an individual that has been determined to need a referral to a mental healthcare provider in person at the jail or prison, before such individual is released. If in-person contact was not made before such individual was released from prison or jail, the outreach team member shall attempt to contact via telephone such individual within twenty-four (24) hours, and at the latest within forty-eight (48) hours, of their release from jail or prison for the purpose of making the mental health referral. The mental health outreach team member shall not need to contact the individual via telephone after release if such contact was made in person.

(ii) A mental health outreach team member shall make at least three (3) attempts at telephone contact for each individual that has been determined to need a referral to a mental healthcare provider if in person contact before release was not made. If phone contact is unsuccessful, a mental health outreach team member shall attempt to contact the individual in person at their place of residence, as provided on the mental health survey. SECTION 3. Advisory board on program implementation. Not later than sixty (60) days after the date of the enactment of this act, the commissioner shall establish an advisory board to manage and administer the program under Section 2 of this act, with the responsibility to:

(a) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted by a state or locality as required under Section 2 of this act and to ensure that grant funding is used as specified under Section 2 of this act.

(b) Monitor plans submitted by the Department of Corrections and advise the commissioner on compliance to ensure that funding is used as specified under Section 2 of this act.

(c) Provide technical assistance to a state or locality to help with the implementation and administration of mental health screening and referral programs that maximize impact on reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates for individuals released from prison or jail, and to assist a state or locality's coordination with the commissioner in implementing the program.

(d) Publish a database of completed evaluations of the impact of a program, as specified under Section 4 of this act.

(e) Create a working group of mental healthcare providers, jail and prison administrators, law enforcement officials, and operators of existing mental health screening and referral programs, as of the creation of the working group, to share best practices on how to create and implement mental health screening and referral programs that have the largest impact on reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates for individuals released from prison or jail.

(f) Work in coordination with mental health outreach teams as established under Section 2 of this act, to ensure that the program is operating as required.

(g) Determine if a grant awarded by the program is not meeting the requirements of the program and mandate necessary changes and reduce funding if such changes are not made.

(h) Oversee the completion of required program evaluations as described under Section 4 of this act, by:

(i) Contracting with one or more independent research organizations to carry out an evaluation of the impact of each grant awarded under the program on arrest, arraignment, and incarceration rates, employment and wage rates, and mental healthcare utilization rates of individuals who have been administered mental health screening; and

(ii) Working with the Department of Corrections, states, and localities to ensure that the evaluation is successfully completed.

(i) The advisory board shall provide technical assistance to the Department of Corrections, states, and localities in setting up and administering the program and shall identify evidence-backed models for the administration of mental health screening and referral programs that the Department of Corrections, states, and localities can look to when designing their own programs.

(j) Not later than one (1) year after the program begins, the advisory board shall conduct a process evaluation for a grant awarded under the program, in which the implementation of the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail is monitored and evaluated to ensure that they are being carried out as specified in the plan submitted to the advisory board.

(k) The Commissioner of Corrections shall appoint members to serve on the advisory board established under this section who have expertise with respect to:

(i) Designing and administering mental health screenings and providing referrals for those incarcerated in prisons or jails, or for those who have recently left such facilities;

(ii) Mental healthcare within prisons or jails; or

(iii) Program evaluation using rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental statistical methods.

(l) The commissioner shall appoint as many members to the advisory board established under this section as deemed necessary.

SECTION 4. (1) The commissioner may provide funding directly to the advisory board for the purpose of contracting with one or more independent research organizations, in partnership with the Department of Corrections, states, and localities, to carry out an evaluation to determine whether each grant awarded under the program is being implemented effectively and to measure the impact of such programs.

(2) Not later than one (1) year after a recipient of a grant awarded under the program receives an award they shall conduct an impact evaluation for its program, in which the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail will be evaluated for their effect on the criminal justice and economic outcomes of individuals who receive the survey. Such impact evaluation shall be conducted by an independent research organization, with oversight from the advisory board and include an analysis of the impact of the survey and referral on participant crime rates, including arrest, arraignment, and incarceration rates, participant employment and wage rates, and participant mental healthcare utilization rates for one (1) year, three (3) years, five (5) years, and ten (10) years after the participant has completed the survey and referral program. These analyses will use administrative data collected by the Department of Public Safety, for the crime rate data, and the Department of Labor, for the employment and wage rate data. States shall provide this data to the independent research organization. For the mental health utilization data, data from mental health providers and, if necessary, from outreach to the individuals who participated in the survey and referral program shall be utilized.

(3) Once evaluations become available, the advisory board will be required to keep an updated database of the impact of programs funded under the grant program and how those programs were implemented and administered, with the goal of creating a repository of evidence regarding what drives impact on crime rates and employment and wage rates to guide policymakers and program operators in the future.

SECTION 5. In this act:

(a) The term "mental healthcare provider" means a fully licensed professional or group of professionals who diagnose mental health conditions and provide mental health treatment, and who operate near to the relevant jail or prison. Mental healthcare providers may provide services at hospitals or at private clinics.

(b) The term "mental healthcare center" means any facility where one or more mental healthcare providers offer mental health services, such as a hospital or private clinic.

(c) The term "law enforcement official" means any officer of an entity administered by a locality, state, or the federal government that exists primarily to prevent and detect crime and enforce criminal laws who is designated by the leadership of that entity to represent the entity.

(d) The term "eligible detention center" means any prison or jail administered by the Mississippi Department of Corrections or any jail administered by a local governmental entity.

(e) The term "severe mental illness" means one or more mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders that results in serious functional impairment and substantially interferes with or limits major life activities.

(f) The term "independent research organization" means an entity that is not operated or controlled by a governmental body that conducts high-quality and rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations.

(g) The term "quasi-experimental research design" means a study design that utilizes a nonrandomized methodology and model to determine the impact of the program on participants, by comparing program outcomes between a nonrandomly assigned sample population that has received the survey and referral and a nonrandomly assigned control population that is constructed to be statistically identical to the sample population but without having received the survey and referral.

SECTION 6. (1) The purpose of this act is to improve public safety, reduce recidivism, and support successful reentry by ensuring that every individual released from MDOC custody receives a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and appropriate continuity of mental health care prior to and post-release, under the following conditions:

(a) Mandatory psychiatric evaluation requires a licensed psychiatrist or clinical psychologist to conduct a comprehensive mental health evaluation within a defined period prior to release.

(b) Continuity of care planning requires development of a post-release mental health care plan, including referrals to community providers, medication continuity when applicable, and crisis intervention resources.

(c) Documentation and accountability requires evaluations and care plans to be documented and included in reentry records, with clear standards to prevent diagnoses from being dropped or disregarded.

(d) Voluntary participation with safeguards. Participation in treatment remains voluntary, with safeguards to ensure evaluations are used for treatment and support purposes, not punitive decision-making.

(e) Implementation should be overseen through MDOC in coordination with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, with periodic reporting to the Legislature on compliance, outcomes, and resource needs.

(2) This act shall focus on prevention and stabilization, recognizing that untreated mental illness and trauma following long-term incarceration pose risks not only to the individual, but to families, staff, and the public.

SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.