Mississippi's Infrequent Grand Jury Sessions Lead to Prolonged Jail Stays

Survey reveals thousands of pretrial detainees in Mississippi's county jails, with many waiting months for trial due to inconsistent grand jury schedules across the state's 82 counties.

• Mississippi, along with Alabama, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Virginia, is one of the only states with no time limit on how long a person can be jailed without being indicted.
• Most people in Mississippi's county jails have been locked up at least three months while waiting to go on trial due to infrequent grand jury sessions.
• Nearly 5,400 people were in Mississippi's county jails, with 2,683 pretrial detainees jailed for over 90 days, 1,100 jailed for at least nine months and 747 jailed for over a year.
• Mississippi does not require consistency among the 82 counties about how often grand juries meet to consider indictments.
• Five counties reported that grand juries meet monthly, but the state's largest county, Hinds, has grand juries that meet six times a year in one district and three times a year in another.

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