Mississippi Code

Miss. Code Ann. § 47-1-59 (2026)

Hospitalization of prisoners; expenses

✓ current as of July 2026

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(1) When the sheriff, marshal or any other peace officer of this state has in his lawful custody a prisoner who, through accident, injury or illness, is in need of hospitalization, such officer may take such prisoner to the nearest hospital in the county or if there be no hospital in that county, to the nearest hospital in an adjacent county and if upon arrival at such hospital any physician licensed to practice medicine in this state certifies that in his opinion such prisoner is in need of hospitalization, such prisoner shall be hospitalized in such hospital for as long as in the opinion of such physician it is necessary to so hospitalize such prisoner. If, in the opinion of the sheriff or other peace officer having custody of such prisoner at the time he is delivered to the aforesaid hospital, or in the opinion of the director of the university hospital if the prisoner be brought to that institution, it is necessary that he be placed under guard while a patient at such hospital, the sheriff of the county in which the crime he was placed in custody for committing was alleged to have taken place, shall furnish the aforesaid guard. When the aforesaid physician or other reputable physician shall certify that hospitalization no longer is needed, the prisoner shall be returned to the original place of detention.

(2) The actual expense of guarding the prisoner in the hospital shall be paid out of the general funds of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested. The expense contracted incident to the hospitalization aforesaid shall be paid by the prisoner; otherwise he may be hospitalized as a state aid patient. However, if the prisoner is ineligible for state aid or the amount available for hospitalization as a state aid patient is inadequate to pay all such hospital expense of a prisoner who is financially unable to pay his own expenses, the board of supervisors of the county where the prisoner was originally confined or arrested shall, upon presentation of the certificate of the physician certifying that said prisoner was in need of hospitalization, pay from the general funds of the county the reasonable and customary charges for such services or as much thereof as is not paid by state aid. Any such payment to a hospital shall be discretionary with the board of supervisors if its county supports the hospital involved by a special tax levy for its operation and maintenance.

Codes, 1942, § 4262.5; Laws, 1954, ch. 245, §§ 1, 2; Laws, 1956, ch. 310; Laws, 1964, ch. 369, § 1; Laws, 1966, ch. 370, § 1; Laws, 1971, ch. 401, § 1, eff. 3/23/1971.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1984–2013 · leading case: Timmy Vuncannon v. United States, 711 F.3d 536 (5th Cir. 2013).

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Timmy Vuncannon v. United States, 711 F.3d 536 (5th Cir. 2013). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 47-1-59 (“[I]f the prisoner is ineligible for state aid or the *541 amount available for hospitalization as a state aid patient is inadequate to pay all such hospital expense of a prisoner who is financially unable to pay his own expenses, the board of…”

Pearl River Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors v. South East Collections Agency, Inc., 459 So. 2d 785 (Miss. 1984). · cites it 6× “” On motion for summary judgment brought under Rule 56 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff alleged it was entitled to judgment against the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors stating: That pursuant to Section 47-1-59 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as…”

Vuncannon v. United States, 650 F. Supp. 2d 577 (N.D. Miss. 2009). · cites it 18× “§ 47-1-59, which provides that: (1) When the sheriff, marshal or any other peace officer of this state has in his lawful custody a prisoner who, through accident, injury or illness, is in need of hospitalization, such officer may take such prisoner to the nearest hospital in the…”

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