HINDS COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – On Thursday, May 4, a Mississippi judge temporarily blocked House Bill 1020 in Hinds County Chancery Court.

Judge Dewayne Thomas said the bill, which was signed by Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.), should be temporarily stayed to allow a full hearing and consideration of the plaintiffs’ motion.

The lawsuit was filed by Ann Saunders, Sabreen Sharrieff, and Dorothy Triplett. All three women live in Jackson.

Under House Bill 1020, Capitol police would be given primary jurisdiction within the expanded Capital Complex Improvement District (CCID) boundary lines. Jackson police would have secondary jurisdiction.

The bill will also allow place certain areas within the majority-Black city — most of them majority-white neighborhoods — under the jurisdiction of a new court system. That new system would send those convicted of misdemeanors to state prisons rather than to county jails, as currently happens, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

It would be run by judges appointed by the Republican-appointed Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court and prosecutors appointed by the Republican attorney general, rather than elected.​​

House Bill 1020 has been stayed until a full hearing on the matter and a ruling has been issued or until May 14, 2023, at 5:00 p.m.