Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. Two days before Christmas, Lacy Simms and her 7-year-old daughter found themselves homeless and in need of a place to stay in central Mississippi.  Simms had lost her job at T.J. Maxx after she had to stay with he r daughter, Melaina, who was hospitalized with seizures. The two were living in their truck. Former parole officer Eric Proctor helped them get into a trailer park run by the Mississippi Center for Police and Sheriffs, giving “help to those who have nowhere else to go,” according to its website. Center officials asked that the park’s location not be disclosed to prevent harassment of residents. The website says the nonprofit organization provides “shelter, safety, and outreach services to victims of violent crime and those who have and are facing homelessness due to domestic violence, human trafficking, run away youth that are part of the juvenile justice system, re-entry from the Department of Corrections, the medically vulnerable population.” Simms said after she arrived at the park, the landlady recommended she keep her daughter indoors because of sex offenders staying there. She said she told the landlady to “let the sex offenders know I did not want them communicating with my daughter.”  Steve Pickett, executive director for the center, said the park isn’t allowed to divide housing up based on age, race or status. “It’s against federal housing laws to segregate,” said Pickett, who previously chaired the Mississippi Parole Board. “There are old people, young people. There are men and women throughout.” A marker outside the office of the trailer park operated by the Mississippi Center for Police and Sheriff that provides emergency temporary housing to certain groups in need. Credit: Jerry Mitchell/Mississippi Today He said they don’t identify residents of the park. “We help people who need a hand up,” he said. “We have rules and goals for our guests. Employment is one of those.” Simms said she was promised a place to stay for free for up to two years, but officials of the organization say she was given only temporary housing. “It’s a transitional living program,” Pickett said. Simms was “sleeping in her truck, and we took her in since it was Christmas, put her in a new house and gave her groceries and utilities,” he said. The center spent hundreds of dollars buying the family groceries and buying the daughter Christmas gifts, he said. “Everything in the house – we bought.” Simms expressed gratitude for the gifts and groceries. “Housing is horrible around here,” she said. “I’d really like to see something like this stick around. It’s bigger than me.” But she also complained about the presence of sex offenders at the park. She did some work for one offender, and she said the man groped her on the job. “I’m not used to anybody bothering me like that,” she said. “I’m 44. I’ve been through a lot.” Pickett responded, “If she was groped by a sex offender, she needs to report it. She needs to call the police.” Simms said she didn’t call authorities because “it wouldn’t do any good. It would be his word against mine.” Proctor, chief of operations for the center, said two sex offenders now live at the park. If either of them posed a problem, he wouldn’t live at the park with his three children, he said. A year ago, a woman who escaped human trafficking arrived at the park. Mississippi Today does not identify victims of sex crimes. Without this place, she might be missing, she said. “ I’ve had friends that did go missing. I had a roommate that passed away.” She feels safe here, she said. “We have cameras everywhere. We have people walking the grounds to make sure everything’s intact. Everybody’s taken care of, and it’s a community here. I’m very grateful for that.” She said she isn’t bothered by the fact some of the residents have spent time in prison. “My mistakes are not your mistakes, so I’m not gonna judge you for that,” the woman said. “I’m just here to survive and at the end of the day, my needs are being met here.” She recently earned her degree in medical billing and coding. She said she is looking forward to getting a job and taking the next step. The park, she said, has made that possible. Pickett served as chairman of the Mississippi Parole Board from 2013 until 2021. While working there, he said he saw hundreds of offenders at a time eligible for parole who had to stay behind bars because they lacked approved housing. “I saw this park as a solution.” These days, fewer reentry beds are available for those leaving prison than there were when state lawmakers in 2014 passed justice reform aimed at decreasing the prison population, he said. At a recent Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force meeting, Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said reentry beds are available to those leaving prison. “So if there are beds available,” asked Forrest Thigpen, senior adviser for Empower Mississippi, “what about the 400 people or so who have been approved but don’t have a place to go? Why would they not go?” Officials replied that former inmates must meet certain criteria to go to reentry housing. They say the corrections department contracts with three transitional operators for a total of 225 beds. In February, Simms received an eviction notice telling her  to leave in May. She said the landlady told the grants only allowed domestic violence victims to stay there. She initially left because she was scared, she said, and has since returned because she and her daughter have nowhere else to go. Pickett said Simms was shocked when the park gave her the eviction notice “to get a job and move on.” “Now she is out to scorch the earth,” he said. “I guess no good deed goes unpunished.” ...read more read less