Confusion and questions continue to swirl around the housearrest program for Mississippi inmates.

Does it exist or not? Should Gov. Haley Barbour call theLegislature back to Jackson for yet another special session to dealwith the issue? Why did the Legislature not handle this inJanuary?

Under the house arrest program, non-violent inmates are allowedto serve their sentences at home. They must wear electronicmonitoring devices and check in regularly with parole officers.

According to Nic Lott, a spokesman for the MississippiDepartment of Corrections, the house arrest program itself wasnever in jeopardy, and a bill reapproving it was passed.

What was not approved by the Legislature, he said, was aprovision of the bill that allows the state to collect $50 inmonthly fees from the 1,200 or so inmates on house arrest. Withoutthose fees, the Mississippi Department of Corrections stands tolose $65,000 a month.

While we hate to see money spent on another special session thisyear, we do think this issue needs to be resolved.

Hopefully, come next year, the Legislature will take care of allthe state’s business during the regular 90-day session.