Hinds prosecutors seek release of detainees held without indictments

A joint effort by Hinds County prosecutors and public defenders sought the release of dozens of people held in the crowded detention center on nonviolent charges without indictments after at least 100 days in jail. Judge Johnnie McDaniels required individual requests; of 19 defendants whose release was sought, he approved 13. The hearings did little to reduce the roughly 200 people then jailed without indictment and revealed broader problems, including people remaining jailed despite release orders and prosecutors unable to explain lengthy case delays. Mississippi has no fixed deadline for prosecutors to obtain an indictment after an arrest, and constitutional speedy-trial protections are rarely raised in these cases.