Administrative Office of Courts
Hinds Drug Court graduation set for May 26 Marshall Fisher spent more than 30 years investigating drug crimes, and since January, supervising the state prison system. On Tuesday, he will be the guest speaker for a program that celebrates the successes of people who got in trouble with drugs, but turned their lives around without going to prison. Fisher will speak at the graduation ceremony of the Hinds County Circuit Drug Court at 6 p.m. May 26. The ceremony will be held in Courtroom No. 1 on the second floor of the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson. Seven people are expected to graduate. It is the 36th graduation exercise for the state’s second oldest drug court. About 90 people will remain in the Hinds Drug Court program after the graduation, said Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd. The program’s enrollment has grown significantly. Mississippi currently has 40 drug court programs enrolling about 3,500 people. More than 3,000 of those had faced felony charges. Drug courts seek to rehabilitate drug-using offenders through drug treatment and intense supervision with drug testing and frequent court appearances. Drug courts offer the incentive of a chance to remain out of jail and be employed, and the sanction of a jail sentence if participants fail to remain drug-free and in compliance with all program requirements. Fisher was state director for the Mississippi Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, HIDTA, before his January appointment as Commissioner of Corrections. He was director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics 2005-2014. He previously served as Agent in Charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Mississippi. Fisher is a member of the Drug Courts Advisory Committee, a legislatively created body which oversees the development and operation of drug courts. May is National Drug Court Month. #### |
