2016 Mississippi Code
Title 47 - Prisons and Prisoners; Probation and Parole
Chapter 4 - Privately Operated Correctional Facilities
§ 47-4-3. Prerequisites to establishment of privately operated correctional facilities; petition and election

(1) Before a private correctional facility may be located in the county, the board of supervisors shall by resolution duly adopted and entered on its minutes specify the location of the facility, the nature and size of the facility, the type of inmates to be incarcerated and the identity of the private entity which will operate the facility. The board shall publish a notice as hereinafter set forth in a newspaper having general circulation in such county. Such notice shall include location of the facility, the nature and size of the facility, the type of inmates to be incarcerated and the identity of the entity which will operate the facility. Such notice shall include a brief summary of the provisions of this section pertaining to the petition for an election on the question of the location of the private correctional facility in such county. Such notice shall be published not less than one (1) time each week for at least three (3) consecutive weeks in at least one (1) newspaper having general circulation in the county.

(2) If a petition signed by twenty percent (20%), or fifteen hundred (1500), whichever is less, of the qualified electors of the county is filed within sixty (60) days of the date of the last publication of the notice with the board of supervisors requesting that an election be called on the question of locating such facility, then the board of supervisors shall adopt a resolution calling an election to be held within such county upon the question of the location of such facility. Such election shall be held, as far as practicable, in the same manner as other elections are held in counties. At such election, all qualified electors of the county may vote, and the ballots used at such election shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the facility to be constructed and the words "For the construction of the private correctional facility in (here insert county name) County" and "Against the construction of the private correctional facility in (here insert county name) County." The voter shall vote by placing a cross (x) or check mark ([checkmark]) opposite his choice on the proposition. When the results of the election on the question of the construction of the facility shall have been canvassed by the election commissioners of the county and certified by them to the board of supervisors, it shall be the duty of the board of supervisors to determine and adjudicate whether or not a majority of the qualified electors who voted thereon in such election voted in favor of the construction of the facility in such county. If a majority of the qualified electors who voted in such election vote against the construction of the facility, then the facility shall not be constructed in the county.

(3) If no petition as prescribed in subsection (2) of this section is filed with the board of supervisors within sixty (60) days of the date of the last publication of the notice, the board of supervisors shall by a resolution duly adopted and entered on its minutes, state that no petition was timely filed and the board may give final approval to the location of the facility.