Mississippi Ends Decades-Old Mansion Trustee Program
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iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(JACKSON, Miss.) — Mississippi’s new governor has abolished a decades-old practice that involves inmates working at the governor’s mansion. The program sparked national debate after former Gov. Haley Barbour decided to pardon four trustees convicted of murder in early January, along with some 200 other people.
Gov. Phil Bryant’s office said that state prison trustees stopped working at the governor’s residence as of Thursday.
Mississippi was one of the last states where the program was still thriving. South Carolina ended its trustee program in 2001, after inmates were found to be having sex in the governor’s residence. North Carolina has a similar program that uses inmates for upkeep of a part of the governor’s residence.
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