Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall does not like public scrutiny. She does not like dealing with the media. And she does not like being questioned about the things that happen in her agency.
Hall is her own worst enemy.
When the Clarion Ledger was reporting on a string of unrelated deaths throughout MDOC prisons, Hall and MDOC officials were about as uncooperative as possible. For the longest time, Hall refused all interviews. MDOC spokesman Grace Fisher released very little information and seemed put off that we — and other media outlets — were reporting on the large number of deaths during a single month.
None of our reporting and none of the reporting we saw from other media outlets ever even implied, much less outright said, a conspiracy of mass neglect by MDOC linked the deaths of unrelated inmates across multiple prisons, but Hall said such a narrative grew in the public and on social media because of news reporting that was somehow both misinformed and due to MDOC being in an "era of transparency" by putting out so many press releases on the deaths.
The truth is that Hall's secrecy and refusal to address the mounting number of deaths early in the process and to provide the requested context is what caused public outcry. We and other media outlets simply reported what was provided to us and what we could get from other sources, such as coroners and the families of inmates. In the absence of information from MDOC officials, the public was left to draw their own conclusions.
It was not until mid-September that she actually gave an interview about the deaths, and even then she chose to speak to only one outlet — Y'all Politics, a conservative political media site — instead of speaking openly to all media either through a press conference or a series of interviews.
Now Hall is asking the Legislature to exempt MDOC from portions of the state's public records law. She even went so far as to say, "There should be some limits on what you are transparent about." Well, there actually are limits, and she knows that. In fact, many of the limits are aimed at protecting law enforcement and related agencies in their investigative efforts.
Hall also seemed to complain that public records laws were being abused, saying media would use requests as "fishing expeditions." There is no doubt that statement was aimed, at least in part, at us. We have made some pretty broad requests of MDOC before, but the reason we have done so is actually quite simple: when an agency refuses to answer questions or tries to nitpick certain requests, the only way to get at the information we need is to broaden our request.
Regardless of the reason any member of the public makes a request for open records, there should be no limit on the scope of what is requested. If John Q. Public or Jane T. Citizen wants to see how many inmates have died each month over the last 10 years, then they are entitled to it. It doesn't matter why they want it. Those records are public.
Mississippi already has some of the weakest public records laws in the nation. We routinely have to file complaints with the Ethics Commission to get agencies to release records or to come off ridiculous fees they try to charge for those records.
However, most agencies — state and local — are good about working with us. Sometimes our requests are broad or require several specific items, and we generally agree on how the agency can best and most efficiently accommodate those requests.
In the case of Hall and MDOC, the problem is not the public records laws or the public records requests they receive. The problem is an agency administration that prefers to operate on its own terms and outside public scrutiny. That's an audacious decision for any public body, but it is even more of one when you consider that the former MDOC director sits in prison today for the largest public corruption scandal to ever hit Mississippi.
As a task force created by Gov. Phil Bryant said, MDOC needs more transparency, not less. When Marshall Fisher took over as MDOC director in the aftermath of the Chris Epps conspiracy, communication with the agency was good despite what was undoubtedly a highly stressful period for Corrections. That has changed under Hall.
Mississippi deserves a director who can set the example and tone for a more transparently run Corrections system. If Hall refuses to be that person, then the governor needs to find someone who can be.