The past week has been pretty unique from a journalism perspective.
I’ve had the priviledge of speaking to a U.S. Senator, a U.S. Congressman, the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the daughter of the late famed evangelist Billy Graham.
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was the keynote speaker at the 86th annual Delta Council meeting last Friday.
District 2 Congressman Bennie Thompson spoke to the public on Tuesday night at Gentry High School about monies that are still out there as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain served as the program at the Indianola Rotary Club, and Ruth Graham joined us via Zoom on Monday morning to talk about her 14-week Bible-based study on forgiveness she’s conducting with nearly 100 inmates at Parchman and Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
There are some stark differences between those four individuals.
But there are similarities too. They have far more in common than one might think.
One thing is certain about Cain. He is not a politician. It is obvious he doesn’t care for politics, or bureaucrats.
He has one thing on his mind when he gets up in the morning, and that’s turning Mississippi’s prison system around.
Agree with his methods or not, he is a man obsessed with prison reform.
Hyde-Smith and Thompson, on the other hand, have to be obsessed with many things, because they are politicians.
They have to please a lot of people, and they have to take stances on countless issues.
Thompson and Cain would probably work very well together when it comes to prison reform.
The two might not agree on everything, but it’s clear from hearing Thompson and Cain talk on the same day this week that Mississippi’s prisons and inmates could benefit from the two having a dialogue.
Cain’s job primarily focuses on rehabilitation and preparing inmates for reentry into society.
Cain said the state releases around 3,000 inmates per year.
He is working hard to establish, not only churches to help calm the state’s prisons, but also workforce and high school equivalency programs to get inmates job ready.
Cain told Rotarians this week that if a person comes out of prison without a skill, employers would not hire them to sweep the floor, but if they come out with a skill, employers are much quicker to forgive their past offenses.
Thompson said on Monday night that he is in favor of banning the box altogether that requires job applicants to say whether they have a felony record or not.
The bottom line is that both say they want inmates rehabilitated and both want to see inmates go to work after their release rather than fall back into patterns of criminal behavior.
Another issue Thompson and Hyde-Smith have been working on together for some time is flood control, particularly the Yazoo Pumps project that could see up to $500 million appropriated for the pumps soon.
Despite the flood zone sitting in the flat lands of the Mississippi Delta, it could face a more uphill battle than it did when the Donald Trump administration approved the plan.
With a new administration, and new lawsuits targeting the project, the “Finish the Pumps” coalition will have to be more diligent about fighting for the project.
Hyde-Smith told me after her keynote last week that there have been no indications from the Joe Biden administration that the Environmental Protection Agency is prepared to pull support for the pumps.
“It could come any day, but I think we’re in a very good position,” Hyde-Smith said.
Thompson brought up flood control on Tuesday night as well.
He volunteered a curious statement saying that he would be interested to know what alternatives could be used for flood control in the event the pumps are not built.
During the Q&A segment, I asked him the same question I asked Hyde-Smith.
Thompson said that the Biden administration is essentially yielding to Congress on the pumps.
If Congress passes the appropriation, the White House won’t stand in the way.
If not, they will be looking at alternatives, and Thompson said he would like to start having conversations with his colleagues about those potential plans before the legislation comes up.
As for Ruth Graham, she will be joining Mississippi’s inmates via Zoom to talk about forgiveness over the next 14 weeks.
Perhaps when she’s through with the inmates, she might be willing to sit down with our congressional delegation and help them work out some issues.
The Delta, as well as the state, would be in a much better position if everyone is working together.
