‘A journey’: Former Harrison County supervisor Kim Savant released from prison
A former Harrison County supervisor has been released to a halfway house in Hattiesburg after serving almost four years in federal prison for conspiring to bribe a government contractor.
Kim Savant is scheduled to be freed in January, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. His daughter, Brandi Savant Redd, shared a public Facebook post about his move from a minimum security prison in Montgomery to the halfway house.
“Y’all, I just can’t even put into words what I want to say so I’ll let the pictures do the talking,” her post said. “FOUR years ago this October, We dropped him off in Montgomery. What a journey it’s been.”
Her post from Tuesday evening prompted 370 comments by Friday afternoon congratulating the family on Savant’s release and wishing him well.
Photos she included show her father getting off a plane at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport and reuniting with his family inside the terminal. They were all wearing big smiles.
Savant in Oct. 2015 was sentenced to five years in prison for taking bribes while he sat as a supervisor on the Harrison County Utility Authority board. Savant admitted taking $1,500 a month from 2011 until 2013 from utility authority contractor Sean Anthony, whose company received utility authority work in exchange.
Savant resigned from the Board of Supervisors, where he served for seven years, when he was charged with bribery. He had previously spent 12 years on the Gulfport City Council. At his sentencing, he apologized to Harrison County residents and friends for “bad decisions.”
Sean Anthony, the contractor he bribed, cooperated with the investigation and was sentenced to six months’ house arrest and three years probation. He also was ordered to pay $395,000 representing money and property from bribes.
