The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi has selected Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich as a 2016 Criminal Justice Reform honoree.
The ACLU is recognizing the first-year mayor for the city’s “involvement and commitment to destroying the practice of modern-day debtors’ prisons” as well as making “systematic upgrades concerning the jailing of people unable to pay municipal court ordered fees and fines.”
In fact, the ACLU now holds Biloxi’s municipal court, which was reorganized as part of a settlement of an ACLU lawsuit, as a model nationally.
The ACLU honor will be presented Saturday, Sept. 17 during a ceremony in Jackson.
“I am proud Biloxi is being honored for its reforms,” Gilich said, Â “but I’m also proud of the work our entire courtroom staff and our police are doing in making sure that the rights of all individuals are protected.”
