A curiouser and curiouser process for pardons

The more that is revealed about former-Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons, the curiouser and curiouser the process seems to have been.

There is, for instance, the matter of the missing or nonexistent paperwork on the inmates granted their freedom after working as trusties at the Governor’s Mansion.

According to a footnote in a legal brief written by Barbour’s attorneys: “Mansion trusties do not have pardon files at the governor’s office or at the Parole Board. They have in a sense ‘living files’ because the governor and the first lady, as well as the highway patrolmen assigned to the governor’s security, observe them every day and provide the information on which the governor makes his decisions as to clemency.”

Living files?

Then there is the matter of David Gatlin, a trusty at the mansion who was turned down by the Parole Board on Dec. 27, according to a Jan. 4 letter obtained by the Associated Press. The letter did not explain why the Parole Board rejected Gatlin’s parole request. It said he was due for another parole hearing in October.

Gatlin was sentenced to life in prison in the 1993 slaying of his wife while she held their baby.

What is there in the “living files” that would explain how Gatlin was not deemed eligible for parole in late December but was found suitable for clemency in early January?

Some have criticized Gov. Phil Bryant for refusing to use inmate labor at the Governor’s Mansion when he moves in after renovations.

But the more that is learned about that antiquated process, the more pleased Mississippians should be with Bryant’s decision.

This editorial represents the views of the Sun Herald editorial board, which consists of President-Publisher Glen Nardi, Vice President and Executive Editor Stan Tiner, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Flora S. Point, Circulation and Human Resources Director Wanda Howell, Marketing and Interactive Director John McFarland and Associate Editor Tony Biffle. Opinions expressed by columnists, cartoonists and letter writers are their own.