Loretta Pierre was denied parole for a 15th time in January, setting what a guest essay in Mississippi Today described as a state record, the author reported. Pierre is one of the group known as the Mississippi Five — now six women — who, the essay said, have spent decades behind bars despite repeated parole denials and extensive rehabilitation efforts.
Reiko Hillyer, a professor who wrote the essay on Mississippi Today Ideas, said Pierre has served nearly 40 years for a crime she committed as a 20-year-old pregnant woman and became eligible for parole after 10 years. Hillyer wrote that Pierre has taken college classes, mentored other inmates and completed rehabilitative courses, and quoted Pierre as saying, “I am not the same person I was 40 years ago” and that taxpayers have spent more than $8 million keeping her in prison.
Hillyer wrote that Mississippi’s use of parole has narrowed since a 1995 truth-in-sentencing law and that the state’s parole grant rate has fallen from an average of 62% to 35% since 2022. The essay said parole hearings have become less frequent, set-offs and denials have increased, and the result has been the fewest paroles in a decade. Hillyer also cited broader trends, writing that Mississippi’s jail and prison population has risen more than 700% since 1970 and that the prison population nearly doubled between 1994 and 2007.
The essay criticized the Mississippi State Parole Board’s structure and practices. Hillyer noted that the five-member board is appointed solely by the governor and cited a 2023 review by the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review, saying the review found the board often denies parole without meeting applicants and fails to document its decisions. Hillyer also wrote that nearly two-thirds of parole and probation revocations in 2023 were for technical violations rather than new criminal conduct.
Hillyer urged Gov. Tate Reeves and the Parole Board to restore parole as an evidence-based path to release and said clemency could be used when the system fails. The essay highlighted reforms in other states and concluded by calling for Pierre and the other women to be considered for release, an outcome Hillyer described as consistent with the original purpose of parole.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
