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Former interim Hinds County sheriff Marshand Crisler, who was convicted on bribery charges in 2024, is out of federal prison and under house arrest.

Crisler was originally sentenced to two and a half years in prison, three years of supervision and a $15,000 fine.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday that he was transferred to community confinement on Aug. 3 and will serve the rest of his sentence on house arrest in Hinds County.

In November 2024, Crisler was convicted of soliciting and accepting $9,500 in bribes from Tonarri Moore, a convicted felon who according to federal officials was acting as an FBI informant. Crisler, who served as a Jackson City Council member from 2001 to 2009, was found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial in Jackson.

While serving as interim sheriff for part of 2021, Crisler was accused of telling Moore about investigations involving him, moving Moore’s cousin to a safer part of the Hinds County jail, giving him a job with the sheriff’s office and allowing Moore to have a gun despite being a convicted felon.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ website on Tuesday still listed Crisler’s release date as Dec. 9, 2026.

Crisler’s wife, Eva Howard Crisler, posted on Facebook celebrating his release.

“You are finally home where you belong. I thank God for bringing you safely home, and I am grateful for the opportunity to begin this new chapter together,” she wrote.

A municipal judge’s appointment in a small Mississippi Delta town has drawn social media backlash, from internet trolls and a few Mississippi politicians, because she is Muslim.

But those who know Assma Ali, including a law professor, say the U.S. native is qualified and an upstanding member of Mississippi’s legal community.

“We have people from out of state who just see a woman in a hijab and they say action must be taken. These attacks against Ms. Ali are about her religion,” said Frank Rosenblatt, an attorney and professor at Mississippi Christian University School of Law, who has known Ali for years and spoke highly of her willingness to mentor young lawyers.

In recent days, people including some Mississippi politicians attacked Ali online for what they claimed are radical beliefs – without any substantiation. They accused her of fabricating the judicial appointment and speculated she would institute Islamic law. Social media posts falsely claimed she was appointed as a judge in Ridgeland or in Lumberton. 

“Mississippi appoints first Yemeni Sharia Hijabi judge,” Amy Mekelburg of New York, founder and editor-in-chief of the Rise Align Ignite Reclaim Foundation, wrote in a post on X that has over 1 million views. Mekelburg incorrectly claimed that Ali had made up the appointment, calling it an “Islamic scam.”

Ali, an immigration lawyer with nearly 10 years of experience, was appointed last week as the municipal judge for Benoit, a town of fewer than 400 people in Bolivar County. She is an American citizen of Yemeni descent. She runs her own private practice in Ridgeland. She earned her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law, now Mississippi Christian University, in 2017 and was admitted to the state bar the same year.

Ali, in a statement on social media, said she will uphold the U.S. Constitution and Mississippi law.

“I was born in the United States, and as both an attorney and a judge, I am committed to upholding the United States Constitution and the laws of the State of Mississippi,” Ali wrote. “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Benoit and will approach this responsibility with fairness, integrity, impartiality, and respect for the law.”

On Monday, Ali shared her signed oath of office and Benoit’s meeting agenda showing her appointment in a post on social media for “clarity and transparency.” 

Mississippi has more than 200 municipal judges, who are appointed by the city’s governing body, not the state, and who only have jurisdiction over that city. They deal with city ordinance violations, traffic violations, misdemeanor crimes and some initial appearances, according to the Mississippi State Judiciary’s website.

In cities with a population below 20,000, a municipal judge is not required to live in the area where they serve, according to an attorney general’s opinion. Some seats are part-time appointments and judges can continue private practice.

“Ms. Ali is a very well liked and popular member of our community,” Rosenblatt said. 

Some people on social media have called for her to be removed because she is Muslim. Rosenblatt pointed out that the U.S. and Mississippi constitutions expressly prohibit disqualifying someone from public office because of their religion.

“I think some of the things we’ve seen from some state officials are incredibly disrespectful to Ms. Ali, and they are in direct contradiction of the U.S. Constitution and the Mississippi Constitution,” Rosenblatt said. 

Some, without documentation, claimed that Ali would implement Sharia law in Mississippi. 

Sahar Aziz, a professor of law and Middle East Legal Studies Scholar at Rutgers University Law School, said there is no one Sharia law and called it “a very complicated and multi-jurisprudential legal system” subject to a multiplicity of interpretations across time, countries and cultures. She compared it to the differences of opinions and interpretations in the Catholic church.

“The accusation they’re making is a very serious one. They’re saying that simply because you are a Muslim we just presume that you are going to violate the separation between church and state. And you are going to impose whatever your interpretation is of Islam upon everyone that goes before you as a judge,” Aziz said, adding that similar accusations have been leveled against other public officials across the U.S.

“It’s not relevant at all to the United States,” Aziz said. “No more relevant than the question: Will an Orthodox Jew impose Jewish law in the U.S. if he or she is a judge? Will an orthodox, practicing Catholic impose canon law on the parties which they’re adjudicating?”

In 2015, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law banning any foreign law from being enforced in Mississippi, which at the time was billed as being an anti-Sharia law measure. There had been several previous unsuccessful attempts to pass similar measures, with opponents pointing out it seemed to be a “solution in search of a problem.”

In a 2024 post about a proclamation from Republican Gov. Tate Reeves celebrating Arab American Heritage Month, Ali wrote, “This means the world to the Arab community, my children, and future generations. This is why I love this state!”

Mississippi Today Ideas is a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share their ideas about our state’s past, present and future. Opinions expressed in guest essays are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Mississippi Today. You can read more about the section here.  

Mississippi has an opportunity before it. Across the country, states are competing to attract data centers and the investment they promise.

New jobs, new tax revenue and new technology are all things worth pursuing. But as a state senator, I believe we have another responsibility that is just as important: making sure the people who live here aren’t left asking questions after decisions have already been made.

That conversation is happening today in state Senate District 27 that I represent.

Over the past several months, I have listened to residents concerned about a proposed data center in Jackson. They have attended public meetings, organized their neighbors and asked thoughtful questions about what this project could mean for their community. They are not asking Mississippi to turn away economic opportunity. They are asking for transparency and the assurance that growth will not come at their expense.

Those are reasonable requests. And the Jackson City Council, with the leadership of Councilman Brian Grizzell, did the right thing, listening to residents’ concerns and passing the state’s first data center moratorium. The 183-day pause will allow the council more time to build a plan that puts Jackson residents first.

When a project will place new demands on our electric grid, consume significant amounts of water and reshape a community for decades, the public deserves more than promises. They deserve facts and clear standards. And they deserve to know that the state government has done its homework before asking local communities to shoulder the consequences.

Too often, these projects are presented as an all-or-nothing proposition. Either we welcome them without question or we lose out to another state.

But, I reject that choice.

Mississippi has every reason to welcome innovation. We also have every reason to insist that companies investing here play by clear rules that protect our citizens.

Other states have already begun asking these questions. North Carolina recently repealed sales tax exemptions for electricity used by data centers, Florida recently passed a bill to regulate water usage by data centers, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott is asking lawmakers to repeal data center sales tax exemptions in 2027 and adopt new rules requiring the industry to pay more of its infrastructure costs.

My peers across the country have proposed policies that require greater transparency around energy and water use, protect residential ratepayers from subsidizing private infrastructure and ensure that communities understand the long-term impacts before construction begins. Those are conversations Mississippi should be having, as well.

As state legislators, we should also take a fresh look at the incentives we offer. Taxpayer dollars should encourage investments that provide lasting benefits to Mississippi families, not simply reward companies for choosing a location.

We should be honest about how many permanent jobs these facilities create, what infrastructure they require and who ultimately pays the bill if costs exceed expectations. These should be the requirements, especially when the companies asking for public incentives are owned by billionaires, and yes, even a trillionaire.

Good economic development leaves families and communities stronger long after the ribbon is cut.

That is why I intend to work with residents, colleagues from both parties, local leaders, utility experts and business leaders to develop thoughtful statewide policies before Mississippi sees another wave of data center development. We have an opportunity to learn from the experiences of other states instead of repeating their mistakes.

The people I represent have reminded me of something simple but important – growth works best when the public has confidence in the process. That confidence comes from openness. It comes from planning. And it comes from making sure the voices of local communities carry just as much weight as the promises made in corporate boardrooms.

Mississippi does not have to choose between economic growth and protecting our communities. We can do both.

But first, we have to set the rules.

Bio: Democratic Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson has represented state Senate District 27 in Hinds County since 1993. Frazier, a consultant, previously served in the Mississippi House. 

Media executive Andy Lack and award-winning journalist Kara Swisher will headline a conversation titled “AI and the Search for Truth” during Mississippi Today’s second annual “All In on Mississippi Summit” on Oct. 8, the nonprofit newsroom announced Tuesday.

The discussion will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping journalism, media, business and public trust as technology is rapidly transforming how people consume and evaluate information.

The session is part of Mississippi Today’s 10th anniversary celebration and will bring together leaders from business, government, philanthropy, education and journalism for conversations about the state’s future.

“Artificial intelligence is changing nearly every aspect of life, including how news is produced and distributed and whether people can trust what they read, hear and see,” said Emily Wagster Pettus, editor-in-chief of Mississippi Today. “Andy Lack and Kara Swisher are experts on media innovation and accountability. Their conversation will illuminate one of the most important issues facing journalism and democracy today.”

‘AI and the Search for Truth‘

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, questions surrounding misinformation, trust, ethics and the future of independent journalism are urgent.

During “AI and the Search for Truth,” Lack and Swisher will examine how AI is transforming the information ecosystem, the opportunities and risks the technology presents, and what journalists, civic leaders and the public must do to preserve trustworthy information.

The conversation will also explore how news organizations are adapting to rapidly evolving technology while remaining committed to accuracy, transparency and public service.

About Andy Lack

Andy Lack is a journalist, television and film producer, and media executive who has received 16 Emmy Awards and four Peabody Awards. During his 15 years leading NBC News as chairman and CEO, he transformed the organization into the world’s most-watched news division. He is executive chairman and founder of Mississippi Today and Deep South Today, the nonprofit network of local investigative newsrooms serving Mississippi, Louisiana and soon to be Arkansas. Lack has also served as CEO of Bloomberg Media Group, chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, and the first CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors overseeing Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. He co-founded MSNBC.

About Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher is one of the world’s foremost technology journalists and commentators. She is the host of “On with Kara Swisher,” co-host of the award-winning “Pivot” podcast, editor-at-large at New York Magazine and a CNN contributor. Swisher co-founded the influential technology publication Recode and has covered Silicon Valley and the technology industry for more than three decades. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.”

About the ‘All In on Mississippi’ summit

The “All In on Mississippi” summit is Mississippi Today’s annual gathering focused on innovative solutions, economic opportunity and community impact across the state.

Presented with support from JPMorgan Chase, and with the Foundation for the MidSouth serving as Impact Sponsor, the summit convenes leaders from government, business, education, workforce development, philanthropy and journalism to explore the ideas shaping Mississippi’s future.

Registration

The All In on Mississippi Summit begins at 1 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson.

Summit tickets are $25. Additional information, the full agenda and registration are available at: https://summit.mississippitoday.org/

Last week, Attorney General Lynn Fitch joined what’s shaping up to be a crowded list of candidates running for governor in 2027. Mississippi Today reporters Michael Goldberg and Taylor Vance sit down with Mississippi Today Ideas Editor Bobby Harrison to discuss the candidates who have entered the race and the policy ideas emerging in the race so far.

TUNICA – The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating a Mississippi Delta catfish farm where some seasonal workers allege persistent verbal abuse and racism, unpaid wages, substandard living conditions and other violations. 

Employees at Battle Fish North said that, for years, management has relied on threats of violence and denying seasonal work contracts to discourage them from reporting the abuses to authorities. 

The Labor Department also investigated the farm in 2023 for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and H-2A regulations and subsequently sued the company and its owners for obstructing the investigation. In the court complaint, which represents one side of a legal argument, the department said the farm concealed noncompliant living quarters and vehicles and threatened to retaliate against workers who agreed to interviews with federal investigators. 

The case ended in a settlement with no findings, and Battle Fish did not “admit or deny” the allegations in the consent judgment. But in a previous memo to the court, the defendants said that they “did not disrupt the DOL’s investigation let alone retaliate against employees who may have participated,” claiming that the “evidence shows the Battle-Magnolia Defendants cooperated in good faith to facilitate the government’s investigation.”

The judge ordered the farm to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act and improve access to information about the workers’ rights. 

“The contracted employees lose hope because the Labor Department went but they didn’t see changes of any kind,” said an employee who left Battle Fish but remains in contact with former coworkers. 

The employee requested anonymity due to concerns over repercussions for current workers at the farm.

Regarding the 2023 investigation, Andrew Dulaney, an attorney for Battle Fish, told Mississippi Today that “Battle Fish North and Magnolia Processing, Inc have successfully and amicably resolved the employment issues with the Department of Labor in 2023. As the Court’s judgment provided and as we believe all parties understand, there was a misunderstanding on a number of issues. These misunderstandings have been resolved.”

Mississippi Today examined court records and government documents, spoke with government agencies and Battle Fish’s legal representation, and interviewed seven current and former employees who worked at the farm between 2012 and 2026.

The employees are Mexican citizens who have worked in the U.S. seasonally on H-2A visas, which allow agricultural employers to hire workers from outside the U.S. on a temporary basis. Four said they decided to leave rather than continue facing abuse. One said the company wouldn’t rehire him after he spoke with Labor Department investigators about the conditions.

Five spoke to Mississippi Today on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, and two former employees who returned to Mexico – Jacob Vargas Huante and Francisco Chavez Barajas – agreed to their names being published.

“I was a victim, but tomorrow there could be another,” said Vargas.

Former workers told Mississippi Today that the intimidation has come primarily from Houston Battle, one of the owners, and Martín Valencia, an overseer who supervises operations and communicates with workers since Battle does not speak Spanish. 

Neither Battle nor Valencia could be reached for comment after Mississippi Today left multiple voicemails and written messages. 

“During my investigation, multiple Battle Fish employees informed me that Battle and Martín degrade workers by repeatedly threatening to physically harm them, as well as to fire them or have them deported,” read a declaration by Kristina Espinoza, one of 10 investigators who inspected the farm in 2023. According to the court records, an employee told investigators, “I couldn’t tolerate the treatment from the supervisor, Martin Valencia, or the boss at the ranch.… Every day was like that, with insults being hurled at us.”

Former Secretary of Labor Julie Su wrote in a memo to the court that the Labor Department’s investigation had revealed an “extensive and ongoing pattern of threatening and intimidating Battle Fish workers.”

In a motion hearing, primary owner Bill Battle denied having retaliated against workers. 

Labor Department spokesperson Erika Ruthman confirmed that an investigation into the company is open and ongoing, but said she could not give further details to ensure its integrity. Ruthman declined to comment whether the current investigation is routine or in response to a complaint.

Brandon Davis, a lawyer representing Battle Fish, said it would be “inappropriate” to discuss the investigation but that Battle Fish would “continue to work with the federal government as our regulator, as well as with the public and with our various groups of employees.”

A family operation

Battle Fish sits just outside Tunica in Mississippi’s northern Delta. Hundreds of acres of clustered rectangular ponds punctuate a flat expanse of fields surrounding the two-lane Highway 4.

The family-run catfish farm and an on-site processing plant, Magnolia Inc., are both owned and operated by members of the Battle Family — Houston Battle along with his brother and father. Houston Battle’s grandparents founded the operation in the late 1960s, and today the plant processes around 10 million pounds of fish annually. 

The farm and the processing plant both hire seasonal foreign workers and were defendants in the 2023 court case. Previously, a Labor Department investigation had found that Magnolia Inc. owed over $11,000 in back wages to U.S. employees. 

The Labor Department cleared Battle Fish to hire 14 workers through the H-2A visa program for the 2026 season, from February to November. Hundreds of thousands of people work in the U.S. on H-2A visas annually, the majority from Mexico.

Former Battle Fish employee Jacob Vargas Huante provided a court declaration in the 2023 lawsuit, and he told Mississippi Today that he worked for three employers in the U.S. through the H-2A program without issues before coming to Tunica. “I never had problems, I was never mistreated … only there with Battle Fish.”

However, Noemí Hernández, consul general of Mexico in New Orleans, said the consulate frequently receives reports of violations from Mexican nationals working in Mississippi. “There are cases that are deplorable,” Hernandez said about reports from across the state. “In a few cases employers even turned to violence.”

‘A chilling effect’

When Labor Department investigators arrived at the farm in 2023, they reported that the management’s threatening conduct created a “chilling effect” on workers and made them afraid to speak. Two investigators, Espinoza and Jose Berrios testified that they had to speak to workers at a gas station away from the worksite, and even there some workers hid behind dumpsters and cars and poked their heads out to see who was around.

In his court declaration, Battle said that the Labor Department “apparently even took some of those employees away from the farm to question them at a gas station and behind a dumpster,” but a former employee who spoke to Mississippi Today said that when investigators approached him at the farm, it was he who suggested speaking at a gas station instead. 

“I knew what the situation was,” the former worker said. “I said to him, ‘You want to interview me? You want me to tell you the truth? Let’s go to the gas station where they can’t see me, and we can talk there and I’ll tell you everything that’s going on.’”

“We were forbidden to talk to you … Martín (Valencia) told us that we couldn’t complain, and he said that if we did, he would send us back to Mexico,” an employee told investigators in a written statement. 

During the investigation, Battle Fish management “routinely threatened to fire, deport, or physically harm,” workers who risked talking to investigators, reads a memo from Former Secretary Su to the court. 

In his court declaration, Battle denied retaliating or threatening to retaliate against employees who spoke with Labor Department investigators, adding that “the agents treated me and Battle Fish North in a prejudicial way like we had engaged in wrongdoing.” 

A former employee told Mississippi Today that Houston Battle “yells at us because he thinks he has us in his hands because we don’t want to lose a work visa. It’s difficult to get another one.”

“They do not treat us well here but we have to work. We do make some money here and Mexico is very difficult,” another employee told Labor Department investigators.

According to Vargas, some employees are also concerned about compromising family members’ chances of obtaining visas through Battle Fish because of pressure from the employers. 

“They tell you if you complain or anything, ‘We won’t bring you over, we won’t bring over your family, we’re not going to want your cousin here, your brother,’” Vargas said.

Battle Fish did not respond to requests for comment about not renewing work contracts to employees who reported issues. 

Vargas worked at Battle Fish for around eight years before leaving because of what he described as repeated verbal abuse and death threats from Valencia. Vargas told Mississippi Today that even in his hometown in Michoacán, almost three years after leaving Battle Fish, “there are times I wake up at night because I have nightmares, I think I’m drowning, that they electrocute me, or Martín Valencia kills me.”

Vargas’ work included maintaining electrical wiring around the fish ponds, and he described in his court declaration how Valencia once tried to turn on the electrical current as he worked. Francisco Chavez Barajas worked alongside Vargas and recalled the incident. “We lived all that mistreatment and abuse first hand,” Chavez said. 

Tunica County Justice Court records show Martin Rodriguez filed simple assault charges against Jacob Huante in 2019. Vargas, whose second last name is Huante, said the Martin listed as filing the charges is Valencia. Vargas pleaded not guilty, and the charges were dropped in 2020. He told Mississippi Today that the charges were falsified and Valencia invented the details of an alleged confrontation. Vargas said that when the police arrived at the farm, “I actually wanted them to arrest me so I could file a counterclaim against him, because everything he was doing to me was false.” 

Valencia could not be reached for comment, but in Battle’s court declaration, he said that no employee had reported abusive conduct from Valencia to him. 

In Vargas’ federal labor complaint that preceded the 2023 investigation, he stated that Valencia “bullies” him and other workers, calling him “pendejo” (“dumbass”) and a “fucking liar.” A current employee described Battle as “explosive,” and a former employee remembered Battle’s behavior as “racist” and “arrogant.”

A former employee noted that Valencia was also sometimes “scolded” and “mistreated” by Houston Battle. “Valencia tries to defend Houston more than the people.”

In a written statement from the previous Labor Department investigation, an employee described Battle as intolerant and prone to anger. “If Houston gets angry with a worker, we all pay the consequences,” the statement read.

Investigator Espinoza wrote in a court declaration that when she was preparing to leave the worksite, she overheard a conversation between Battle and his brother. 

“They think I am threatening, they don’t know what threatening is,” she quoted Battle as saying before he went “storming back into the front office.”

Workers also told investigator Jose Berrios about a physical confrontation in which Battle allegedly grabbed a worker, spun him around and started yelling at him. Battle denied having any knowledge of this incident during a September 2023 motion hearing in the Northern District of Mississippi.

Battle’s father, Bill Battle, was also questioned about violent retaliatory practices during the motion hearing. He admitted to having been on probation for breaking the windshield of a vehicle that two employees were driving. A complaint says Vargas sent investigators a TikTok video that showed Bill Battle smashing the windshield “after brandishing his gun at them as they were leaving after going to get their last paychecks.”

Overworked and underpaid

A Labor Department clearance form that authorizes Battle Fish to hire H-2A workers specifies an 11-hour work day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., but some workers said upon arrival they found themselves working 12- to 14-hour night shifts without overtime pay.

“Some years, I never rested,” said one former employee. He remembered investigators told him Battle Fish owed him wages for the years of overtime, which he still has not received. “We didn’t get one day to rest.”

“We’re human beings, we’re not machines or animals,” Vargas said.

“The contract doesn’t say I’ll work at night,” said another former employee. “The first year when I arrived they just told me you need to sleep during the day because you’re going to work at night.”

In a declaration to court, Vargas wrote that he worked at least three hours per week over his contracted hours without pay.

Multiple workers said they only received partial reimbursements for travel costs between their hometowns and the farm, expenses that the H-2A program requires employers to cover. In 2022, the Labor Department reported that the processing plant failed to fully reimburse travel expenses to its employees.

Battle Fish denied failing to fully cover travel costs in an email to Mississippi Today.

Davis said he had no knowledge of the night shifts, but he said that “Battle Fish complies with the Fair Labor Standards Act as to all employees.” This federal law requires employers to pay time and a half when employees work more than 40 hours in one week. 

‘Uninhabitable’

Federal regulations require employers to provide H-2A employees with housing, reliable transportation between living quarters and the worksite, and access to meals. At Battle Fish, workers stay in small apartments and trailers at two locations, both a few minutes’ drive from the processing plant. 

An investigator testified that, according to her interviews, several workers slept on the floor and lacked access to running water. 

“The stoves do not work, nor does the air conditioning,” reads one employee’s statement to investigators. “The floor and the shower are sinking.”

Some workers told Mississippi Today they lived at the farm in crowded quarters infested with rats and cockroaches, where the flooring was falling to pieces.

Former Secretary Su called one of the facilities “uninhabitable” for workers in a memo to the court.

In another statement, a worker said, “transportation is in very poor condition. It doesn’t have air conditioning, the windows are broken, and the tires are bad.” Former employees told Mississippi Today that unreliable vehicles meant it was hard for them to access grocery stores, and they sometimes had to walk to work through heavy rainfall.

“We were having problems to buy food, it was only one vehicle for everyone and that is not enough and sometimes we can’t go shopping for food,” wrote one employee in a statement.

In his court declaration, Thomas Cooper Battle said that “contrary to the Department of Labor’s assertions, the farm vehicles were in an appropriate state of repair to service Battle Fish North’s on-farm work.” He also said that Magnolia “regularly engages the services of McElhaney Construction to repair and maintain the housing units.”

Battle Fish did not reply to requests for comments on the conditions of employee housing and vehicles. 

Lives at risk

In a remote corner of the Delta thousands of miles from family support networks, employees said accessing medical care was another recurring challenge. 

The Labor Department requires that H-2A employers have state or employer-provided health insurance insurance for “injury and disease arising out of and in the course of the worker’s employment.” However, six Battle Fish employees who spoke with Mississippi Today recalled incidents where they or their coworkers were severely ill or injured and their boss did not help them access treatment. 

An employee who worked with Battle Fish for one season during the COVID-19 pandemic said that management “abandoned” him when he developed a cough that persisted for days and left him unable to sleep because he felt like he was suffocating. He said that when he asked Battle and Valencia to help him get to a hospital, they got angry and told him he had to keep working. After three days he said he “couldn’t bear it anymore” and ended up paying $100 round trip for a taxi to take him to a hospital in Memphis, and $200 for treatment.

Employees also reported dangerous working conditions. One employee who worked night shifts said he “risked his life” driving tractors without brakes up to the edge of the fish ponds to operate fans that oxygenate the water. “There was the danger that you’d end up in the lake along with everything else.”

“They’ve never been concerned about people’s well being,” said a former employee. Another worker said in a statement to inspectors, “If an accident happens to you, sometimes they don’t take you to the doctor anymore.”

Battle Fish did not reply to requests for comments about specific incidents, but wrote “we value our workers and have a very strong safety record.”

“We are proud to be catfish farmers in the Mississippi Delta and to have the opportunity to provide food for America,” the company stated in an email to Mississippi Today.

‘My life’s worth more than that’

Battle “treats them as if they were slaves, as if they were trash,” said a former employee who is now working in another state, where he says conditions are better. 

Vargas said, “I’d never go back to Battle Fish … not even if they paid me 2 or 3 million dollars. Because my life’s worth more than that.”

For an employee who left this year, government mechanisms for accountability feel slow and ineffective. He said that a lawyer associated with the Mexican consulate told him his case could take years. He risks becoming undocumented if he stays in the U.S. while he waits for a resolution. “I think they want me to give up hope, that I won’t know what to do and I’ll go back to Mexico.”

“The Department of Labor did nothing. The government didn’t do anything to help. The Mexican consulate is supposed to help Mexicans, but they don’t do anything,” he said.

In response to the employees’ statements, a Labor Department spokesperson said that workers who have questions about wages can contact the Wage and Hour Division. Consul General Hernández said the consulate provides guidance to Mexican workers on how to report the issues to U.S. authorities but that the consulate itself does not have the authority to investigate alleged violations.

The employee, who remains in limbo weeks after leaving Battle Fish, said he had been supporting his two children in Mexico with his salary for years, which made leaving a difficult decision. But in the end he renounced his contract mid-season due to the conditions and treatment. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “I want this to stop here.”

Georgie Pease joined Mississippi Today for a 10-week fellowship through the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Claudia Amendoeira is at Mississippi Today on a fellowship from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Mississippi continues to rank among the states with the fewest resources for pregnant women. According to the latest report from the March of Dimes, nearly half of the counties statewide are considered maternity care deserts without an obstetric clinician or birthing facility. 

These deserts affect close to 107,000 Mississippians and 7,000 births annually, said the report released Tuesday. The March of Dimes is a national nonprofit aimed at improving the health of mothers and babies. 

Across the country, 1 in 3 counties are maternity care deserts. Experts say that’s abysmal. Mississippi’s statistics are worse than the national average, but the report’s authors pointed out those trends are not inevitable. The report concluded maternity care deserts are the result of longstanding underinvestment and policy decisions, including restrictive Medicaid coverage and prohibitive midwifery policies. 

“The U.S. is still one of the most dangerous developed countries in which to give birth,” said Honour McDaniel Hill, director of Infant and Maternal Health Initiatives for March of Dimes. “We still have two women die each day from pregnancy-related causes.”

Those perils are magnified in Mississippi, which consistently has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality and leads the nation in infant mortality. 

Dr. Lakeisha Richardson, one of a few OB-GYNs in the Delta, knows this firsthand. Richardson was born in Indianola and works in Greenville, and she said she felt called to return home after completing her residency in Jackson. She said other OB-GYNs she knows in the Delta call the place where they practice home.

Richardson said there is a lot of talent to tap into within the state. Efforts to expose Mississippi high school students to healthcare early on and hold spots at the University of Mississippi Medical Center for students who promise to serve rural areas could improve the workforce. But attracting talent from elsewhere to serve some of the nation’s poorest women will require a more holistic approach that includes revitalizing infrastructure in rural parts of the state, she said.

“I think the biggest factor that doctors look at when they’re choosing where to live is where they want to raise their families,” Richardson said. “We all want to serve and come back and help others, but we also have to take into consideration our own children and their education and their culture and experiences, as well.”

To access providers, Richardson said, women often drive more than an hour. Sporadic health insurance statewide frequently translates to patients arriving at pregnancy sicker than those living in places where they are more likely to have insurance. Of the patients she sees, 1 in 5 have a chronic health condition, such as diabetes or hypertension, Richardson said, adding that most of the time, those illnesses have gone untreated for years.

A majority of her patients were uninsured until they became pregnant and qualified for Medicaid. Under Mississippi law, people who aren’t pregnant need to make less than 21% of the federal poverty level, or $6,000 annually for a family of three, to qualify for Medicaid. During pregnancy, those rules change and anyone making under 194% of the federal poverty level, or roughly $54,000 for a family of three, qualifies for the low-cost health insurance. 

If Mississippi were to expand its Medicaid program, as 41 states and the District of Columbia have done, 123,000 uninsured adults could become eligible for the program, by some estimates. Richardson believes many of her patients would see better outcomes as a result. The March of Dimes report also highlights Medicaid expansion as a solution to the maternal-infant health crisis, but Mississippi lawmakers have yet to heed this recommendation.

In 2024, the Mississippi Legislature came historically close to expanding Medicaid but the proposal ultimately died due to partisan politics.

Ninety-five percent of counties in Mississippi have uninsured rates above the national average, according to the March of Dimes. In non-expanded states, 1 in 3 women covered by Medicaid during pregnancy reported being uninsured prior to conception, according to the report. That says a lot about how these states think of women, McDaniel Hill said. 

“A woman’s value does not come from her pregnancy,” McDaniel Hill said. 

Left untreated, hypertension and diabetes can lead to preeclampsia, stillbirth and preterm birth, a condition in which Mississippi leads the nation, as well as long-term health consequences for both the infant and the mother.

For some Mississippi women in maternal care deserts, help may remain tragically out of reach and can result in dying on the side of the road. Midwives could help fill in the gaps – but not in Mississippi. This year, the state was named in a federal lawsuit over how it limits women’s access to nurse midwives. Currently, nurse midwives must pay physicians in order to practice, which advocates say is cost prohibitive for many midwives and irresponsible in a state with a severe shortage of providers. Legislation to change that died in committee this spring.

Richardson said she is proud to reduce poor outcomes and meet the needs of the community that raised her. But it means that she’s almost never off the clock. On average, OB-GYNs in the U.S. deliver a baby once every three days. Richardson said she often delivers multiple babies a day, sometimes as many as five. 

“It can be exhausting,” Richardson said.

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Kermit Davis Sr., a Magnolia State basketball icon, was surrounded by family when he died Monday in Tupelo. He was 91.

Davis, who played basketball at Mississippi State and later coached the Bulldogs, was the father of former Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis Jr.

Father and son share an amazing distinction: Kermit Sr. was Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 1971, his first year as State’s head coach. Forty-eight years later, in 2019, Kermit Jr. was SEC Coach of the Year in his first year at Ole Miss.

“Dad had 91 great years,” Kermit Davis Jr. said Monday. “I think the highest compliment a man can have is when his children all say he was their best friend. I can say that for sure, and my younger brother, Bill, says it and my sister, Jennifer, says it, too. Dad was special.”

Kermit Davis Sr. was preceded in death by his seven siblings. He was born and raised in Walnut, a small community in Tippah County in northeast Mississippi.

Basketball is king in that part of the state known as Hill Country. There, small-town high school teams are historically a huge source of community pride. Walnut was no exception. In 1954, Davis led Walnut to the state championship in the smallest classification of schools. Then, he sparked Walnut to the overall state championship, defeating much, much larger Forest Hill of Jackson in what was then known as the Tournament of Champions. 

That Walnut team was similar to the Hickory, Indiana, team made famous by the 1986 movie “Hoosiers,” which starred Gene Hackman. The movie’s Hickory team was loosely based on a real-life team from Milan, Indiana, which won the 1954 Indiana state high school championship, the same year Walnut won in Mississippi.

“Dad and I watched ‘Hoosiers’ together,” Kermit, Jr. said. “He loved that movie. He loved all the similarities. In many ways, Dad was Jimmy Chitwood,” the player who scored the winning basket for Hickory, Indiana.

Kermit Davis Sr., was much more than that. He was the first player legendary coach Babe McCarthy successfully recruited to Mississippi State. McCarthy was actually officiating one of Walnut’s games in 1954, and afterward asked Davis where he was going to play college basketball. Davis answered that he was probably going to play at Ole Miss.

McCarthy told Davis he should reconsider because he knew who the new Mississippi State coach was going to be and also knew that the coach was interested in Davis.

“Oh yeah, who’s that?” Davis asked.

Answered McCarthy: “Me.”

When Davis agreed to play at State, McCarthy asked him if he knew of any taller players State should recruit. Davis told McCarthy he should recruit a tall fellow in Tennessee Davis had once played with in junior high, a young man named Bailey Howell.

McCarthy did just that and over the next few years, Howell became a superstar and State became one of the nation’s best teams, challenging Kentucky and Adolph Rupp for SEC basketball supremacy. Howell averaged 27 points and 17 rebounds a game for his State career and many of his baskets came on passes from Davis.

After his playing days Davis became an outstanding high school coach, leading Tupelo to back-to-back state championships.

Kermit Jr. grew up going to Kermit Sr.’s games at Tupelo and then State. 

“I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Kermit Jr. has said.

Asked what he learned most from watching his father, Kermit Jr. answered that it wasn’t so much the X’s and O’s of basketball or the strategy.

“What I got from Dad – at least what I hope I got – was his ability to handle and treat people,” Kermit Jr. said. “He was the ultimate people person. He treated people right. He cared about people and people knew it. That’s what made him who he was.”

•••

Rick Cleveland column on Kermit Davis Sr., from 2022.

A select committee of House lawmakers on Monday received a 101 lesson on the basics of redistricting from a university researcher, but focused very little on the recent Supreme Court decision that has the nation and state on edge about partisan gerrymandering and minority voting rights.

“The fundamental purpose of redistricting is equal representation — one person, one vote,” said Joseph “Dallas” Breen, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, the sole presenter at Monday’s committee meeting at the state Capitol. “… Everyone should have equal say.”

Breen with a slide presentation ran through the basic principles of redistricting: population equality, contiguity of districts, compactness, keeping “communities of interest” together, respecting political boundaries such as cities when drawing districts, and complying with federal law.

READ MORE: Mississippi lawmakers launch redistricting process after Supreme Court ruling

Speaker Jason White appointed the 16-member House committee, including only five Democrats, in May. He tasked it with considering current redistricting processes and laws, fairness, transparency and compliance with constitutional requirements. This was on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Callais decision in a Louisiana case that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and protections for majority Black voting districts.

But White and fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have also created a joint House and Senate committee on redistricting, which is expected to do the bulk of the work of redrawing Mississippi’s legislative, judicial and congressional voting lines post Callais decision. That committee held its first meeting last week, and announced plans to hold hearings across the state later this month through September before making recommendations on new voting maps to the full Legislature.

Regardless, voting rights advocates view both committees with a gimlet eye. They fear leaders in the state Republican majority will seek to undo Black voting rights gains hard won in Mississippi only after passage of the federal VRA and decades of civil rights work to stamp out Jim Crow suppression. Despite having the largest Black population in the country, the state has had relatively few Black elected leaders, including none in statewide office or the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

Since the Callais decision, some GOP leaders in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., have called for heavy partisan gerrymandering, including redrawing of incumbent U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson’s district to help oust him, the state’s only Black member of Congress and only Democrat.

Voting rights advocates held a press conference before the select committee meeting on Monday, and questioned why it even exists.

“Why are we really here?” said Sonya Williams-Barnes, Southern Poverty Law Center’s policy director for Mississippi. “It definitely has organizations such as mine on alert … We just redistricted (legislative seats) last year … I believe in the hearing process and hearing from the public, but that seems like an important part missing so far, hearing from average everyday citizens … Our duty is to ensure that we protect Democracy here in our state.”

Rep. Noah Sanford, co-chairman of the House select committee and vice chairman of the joint redistricting committee, said the House committee is primarily a “study committee.” And he said fear of major upheavals from redistricting are unfounded.

“I would just tell people at this point to keep an open mind,” Sanford said. “Any map passed would have to have 62 votes (in the House). So I don’t expect some major redraw that totally changes districts across the entire state, because we would never get 62 votes to do that anyway. People are generally comfortable with the communities they already represent.”

Sanford said his understanding of the Callais decision is that “maps have to be drawn race neutral.”

“I don’t anticipate major changes (in legislative redistricting),” Sanford said. “… My intention is to try to keep counties together and cities together. There is a small town in my district that I represent half the city, and another member represents the other half of the town. That should not be. That other member lives two counties away. I live 15 minutes away. We need to get rid of that.”

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, like many other GOP governors, after the Callais decision, faced pressure from the Trump administration and others to call a special legislative session and redraw congressional voting maps ahead of Novembers midterm federal elections. But Mississippi had already held its midterm primaries in March, and such a last-minute redrawing now appears unlikely. However, Reeves has indicated he’s likely to call lawmakers into special session by year’s end for state legislative redistricting ahead of next year’s statewide elections.

LORMAN — Alcorn State has hired former longtime NBA guard Monta Ellis as general manager of the men’s basketball program.

Ellis is a native of Jackson, and Alcorn State’s main campus is in Lorman. Ellis was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2005 out of Lanier High School in Jackson, where he won two state championships. Alcorn State described Ellis as “One proud Mississippi son” in its announcement Friday.

“Monta Ellis brings a championship pedigree and a wealth of basketball knowledge to our program, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to the Alcorn State family,” athletic director E. D’Wayne Robinson said in a statement.

“His experience at the highest level of the game, combined with his passion for developing young talent, makes him the perfect addition to our basketball leadership.”

Alcorn State finished 9-23 overall and 7-11 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference under first-year head coach Jake Morton last season.

Ellis averaged 17.8 points in his 12-year NBA career with Golden State, Milwaukee, Dallas and Indiana. He was voted the league’s most improved player after averaging 16.5 points in the 2006-07 season with the Warriors. He completed his career with Indiana in the 2016-17 season.

Ellis, 40, now begins a new career in college sports.

“It’s official, Braves fans. I’m now the new general manager at Alcorn State University,” Ellis said in Alcorn State’s announcement posted on X. “I can’t wait to work alongside with the coaches, the staff, the alumni, and the passionate fans at Alcorn State. Let’s go Braves!”