A new partnership between the capital city and federal and state law enforcement has led to the indictment of 24 dangerous criminals.
The partnership is called Project EJECT, or “Empower Jackson Expel Crime Together.”
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Mike Hurst began the program in October, and announced it in December.
Since then, 24 criminals have been indicted in the federal system. If convicted, these individuals will likely face stiffer penalties and longer jail sentences than they would in the county and state system.
Hurst said agents and officials with his office are looking at new cases each week, and said residents can expect to see more indictments soon.
“We are developing a long list of cases coming in from JPD and are going through them as quickly as possible to determine which ones we can process through the federal system and (which) ones we’ll have to allow the Hinds County (district attorney) to prosecute,” he said. “I think you’ll see a big increase of indictments coming over the next several months.”
The program is a collaborative effort between the Jackson Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and state task force officers assigned to those agencies.
It builds on a partnership established by previous U.S. Attorney Gregory Davis. In 2015, former Police Chief Lee Vance announced that his department had partnered with Davis’ office, which led to at least 13 convictions in the federal system.
The program’s focus is to get the city’s “worst of the worst” criminals off the streets and send them away from Jackson, so they cannot continue their criminal enterprises behind bars.
Federal agents in particular are focusing on violent crimes including carjackings, robbery of businesses, drug trafficking and cases involving convicted felons in possession of firearms.
“Congress has deemed that the taking of a vehicle by intimidation or force is a federal crime. Another is Hobbs Act Robbery, the robbery of businesses. The nexus there is that most businesses have an effect on interstate commerce,” Hurst said.
Among cases, the feds are now looking at a 2016 triple homicide and robbery at a South Jackson pawn shop.
In late 2016, suspects robbed Bill’s Coin Stamp and Jewelry, and killed three individuals there, including the store’s owner.
Two suspects, Jamison Layne Townsend and Joshua Garcia, were arrested in the case.
“We’re looking at everything where there is a federal nexus and we believe it will further our interests in getting violent criminals out of Jackson.”
EJECT includes several components. On the punitive side, criminals will be processed through the federal system, rather than by the local district attorney.
“When criminals get arrested locally and processed locally, they’re let out almost immediately,” Hurst said. “They’re not going to make a plea deal, and if they do, they still are going to have to serve hard time.”
Additionally, Hurst’s office also wants to ensure felons serve in prisons outside of Mississippi, which would make it more difficult for convicts to conduct criminal business behind bars.
“We have a federal prison in Yazoo (County), but what we’ve seen happen in other states is if you lock up (criminals) locally, they’re going to continue operating their criminal organizations,” he said. “We want this to be a deterrent to violent criminals.”
Other components include rehabilitating criminals so they can re-enter society after they serve their time, and helping prevent others from committing crimes, Hurst said.
Hurst wants to work with community leaders to develop programs to help former convicts who re-enter society, and set up listening tours to come up with suggestions. His office planned to meet with some civic leaders this week.
“We’ll look at what we can do better to help reintegrate them in the community,” he said. “Folks who get out of prison and want to be law-abiding, but if they can’t get a job and provide for their families, they may fall back in to their old ways.”
For more information on the program, contact Hurst’s office at (601) 965-4480.
