Send fewer people to jail or prison in Mississippi in the first place. And help those leaving incarceration to get back to a normal life, including a job, so they don't wind up back in the system.

Those were two underlying criminal justice reform themes experts told state lawmakers they should act on at a joint hearing Monday.

But is there legislation that could make these changes to Mississippi's corrections system a reality? They're still working on it, lawmakers said.

"We're trying to find common ground to make the biggest impact, the quickest," said House Corrections Chairman Rep. Bill Kinkade, R-Byhalia.

Sen. Sampson Jackson II, D-Preston, said the hearing was a chance to hear from a range of criminal justice voices on where they felt reforms should be prioritized. Several pointed out major sentencing and rehabilitation changes already have been implemented in other states.

Jackson, who leads the Senate Corrections Committee, said he expects legislation to move forward this session that prevents misdemeanor drug offenders from winding up in jail as frequently. But he said it was yet to be seen what larger reform legislation could look like.

Gov. Phil Bryant is on board. He has been involved with President Donald Trump's successful federal-level reform effort and has said there is more to do at the state level.

"There is no doubt we have made important progress in recent years," Bryant said recently. "Mississippi's prison population was at an all-time high when I took office ... Since the historic overhaul of our sentencing laws in 2014, we've experienced declines in both crime and imprisonment rates. But there is still work to be done."

Here are key points state officials and experts made to lawmakers Monday:

Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall. Some 19,200 people are incarcerated in Mississippi's prison system, Hall said — about an 11 percent reduction since initial criminal justice reform legislation passed in 2014. But she said the state has not used the resulting savings — about $40 million — to boost drug treatment and other programs that would help offenders stay out of prison. Lawmakers, Hall said, should pass a "comprehensive package" that would allow such money to be routed into rehabilitation programs, similar to a law in Louisiana. She also mentioned under-staffing in her agency due in part to low salaries; MDOC is asking for $7.1 million to increase salaries of correctional officers and others.

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ACLU of Mississippi Executive Director Jennifer Riley Collins. The focus should be on locking up fewer people accused of misdemeanor crimes, said Riley Collins, who added county jail populations in the state have shot up since 1990. Major reforms are needed to the state's bail system, she said, so fewer people are forced to sit in jail — on the taxpayer's dime — as they wait for their case to proceed. "Taxpayers are footing the bill for a system that favors the wealthy and is not making our communities any safer," she said.

Hal Kittrell, Mississippi Prosecutors Association. Kittrell echoed Hall, saying more investment was needed to reduce recidivism. "We're not giving people the skills they need," he said. "I've seen too much effort going into finding ways to get people out instead of finding ways to keep them from going back." Mental health programs and vocational training especially need additional funding, he said.

U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett. Starrett suggested supervision periods post-release should be reduced by half in Mississippi. Such a tweak would reduce the workloads of probation officers, he said, allowing them to spend more time helping people who need to reintegrate into society.

James Robinson, Empower Mississippi. For ex-felons, a major hurdle to settling back into society is finding a job. Businesses often are hesitant to hire someone with a record. But Robinson said lawmakers could offer a tax credit to companies who are willing to hire to ex-felons — a way of reducing recidivism by ensuring more people leaving prison quickly find work.

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