05/22/2026
When Rep. Justis Gibbs, D-Miss., stood on the steps of a Jackson courthouse in early 2025, he was surrounded by women who had survived Mississippi’s correctional system. One of them was Susie Balfour, who later passed away from cancer after years of exposure to industrial cleaning chemicals while incarcerated.
That day was the catalyst for House Bill 1444.
Signed into law last month, HB 1444 requires the MS Dept. of Corrections to (a) maintain written policies for handling cleaning and dangerous chemicals and (b) ensure incarcerated people can read those policies at any time.
As a freshman Democrat in a superminority, Gibbs—Mississippi Future Caucus Co-Chair and Innovation Fellow—saw an earlier version of the bill die on the Senate floor. He didn’t refile and hope. He rebuilt it, built and leaned on relationships across the aisle, and got it passed unanimously in both chambers.
“I did this in honor of Ms. Balfour and all the ones who did not have the capacity to fight for themselves.”
Read the full story of how this law came to be—link in bio.