UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
Southern District of Mississippi
Office of the Clerk Eighth Revised Video-Conferencing Plan
TO: U. S. District and Magistrate Judges
Courtroom Deputy Clerks (CRDs)
Law Clerks
Probation Officers
Criminal Counsel in the Southern District
FROM: Arthur Johnston, Clerk
DATE: June 25, 2026
SUBJECT: Eighth Revised Video-Conference Plan in Response to the Coronavirus
(1) In close consultation with the United States Marshals Service (USMS) and its local
contract holding facilities, the Court has developed the following Video-
Conferencing Plan. To coordinate scheduling, to give advance notice to the local
facilities, and to ensure video-conferencing resource availability at the national
bridge, all attorneys, probation officers, judges, and chambers staff are asked to
adhere to it as much as possible.
(2) Importantly, video-conferencing is a privilege and is offered as a convenience only.
There are no contracts or memoranda of understanding in place. Consequently, the
local facilities have the right to disallow this service at any time for any reason or
no reason. Matters of security and physical health and safety of facility personnel,
inmates, and the public are always paramount. Those availing themselves of this
service must be respectful and courteous at all times and comply with any
requirements or schedule adjustments which may be necessitated by local facility
personnel.
(3) The USMS’ contract holding facilities have agreed to dedicate video- conferencing
rooms and equipment for exclusive federal court use (to include attorney
consultation and probation interviews as they relate to the client’s/inmate’s
criminal proceeding pending in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of
Mississippi) on the following current 1 schedule:
Facility Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Stone County N/A 9:30 a – 4:00 p N/A 9:30 a – 4:00 p 9:30 a – 12:00 p
Harrison County 9:00 a – 11:00 a 9:00 a – 11:00 a N/A 9:00 a – 11:00 a 9:00 a – 11:00 a
1:00 p – 4:00 p 1:00 p – 4:00 p 1:00 p – 4:00 p 1:00 p – 4:00 p
Pearl River County N/A 8:00 a – 3:00 p N/A 8:00 a – 3:00 p N/A
Plaquemines Parish 9:00 a – 3:00 p 9:00 a – 3:00 p 9:00 a – 3:00 p 9:00 a – 3:00 p 9:00 a – 3:00 p
Forrest County 8:00 a – 5:00 p N/A 8:00 a – 5:00 p 8:00 a – 5:00 p 8:00 a – 5:00 p
(4) Apart from the procedures described herein, the Tallahatchie County Correctional
Facility has its own internal procedures for scheduling legal video-conferences and
court hearings. The facility contacts for scheduling legal video-conferences and court
hearings are Shirquita Walker and Shikavaious Williams. All legal video-
conferences and court hearing requests should be emailed directly to them at
[email protected] and
[email protected].
For defense counsel and probation officers, requests should be submitted on
company letterhead with at least 24-hour notice. The requests should include a
specific date and time and your own Zoom link. Video-conferences are conducted
Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and each
video-conference is limited to one (1) hour in duration.
For court hearings, requests do not need to be on court letterhead. The Court is not
required to provide 24-hour notice for court hearings. The request should include a
specific date and time as well as a Zoom link. The Court is not subject to a
specific time limit.
(5) Apart from the procedures described herein, the Stone County Regional
Correctional Facility requires that all attorneys and probation officers call (601)
928-7042 Ext 1 to let the operator know when the video-conference has ended. The
attorney and probation officer should remain on the video-conference screen until
an officer removes the inmate and ends the video-conference.
(6) All video-conference requests, whether by probation officers, FPD or CJA counsel, or
CRDs, must be submitted by sending an email to
1
A facility’s schedule or availability may change, with or without advance notice. As a result, a scheduled video-conference
may need to be rescheduled. In such instance, the requestor will be notified, and an alternate date and time will be requested
or proposed.
2
[email protected]. The request should include the following
information:
Facility:
Requestor:
Client/Inmate:
Participant Names:
Purpose:
(i.e., attorney-client meeting
/ PSI Interview)
Preferred Date/Time:
Alternate Date/Time:
Duration:
An alternate date and time must also be included. Failure to include an alternate
date and time, or any other requested information, may result in a delay in
scheduling the requested video-conference.
(A shared calendar will be made available for court users, so that chambers staff
may see what is scheduled and when.)
(7) Whitney Dilmore with the Jackson Clerk’s Office will be the court’s primary point
of contact for matters to be scheduled through the facilities outlined in section (1)
above, with Rita Thomas, Patrick Watson and Trey Mitchell serving as
additional points of contact.
Keithfer Robinson will (a) serve as the district’s overall video-conferencing project
manager, (b) provide daily in-courtroom assistance during “court” weeks, (c) ensure
emails from the shared inbox are routing properly, (d) provide leadership and
support to Dilmore, Thomas, Watson, and Mitchell, and (e) trouble-shoot the entire
process throughout.
(8) Video-conferences will be scheduled on a first come, first served basis. 2 Dilmore,
Thomas, Watson, or Mitchell will monitor the Video Hearings email account and,
when a request is submitted, will schedule the date and time requested (or the
alternate date and time requested). If neither the requested nor alternate dates
and times are available, then Dilmore, Thomas, Watson, or Mitchell will reply with
proposed dates and times.
(9) All video-conference requests included in an email must be related to the same
facility. If a request is received containing multiple video-conferences for multiple
facilities, then the requestor will be asked to resubmit their request.
2
A court hearing will take priority over an attorney and probation consultation. Therefore, an already scheduled attorney or
probation consultation will be rescheduled if the same is scheduled during a time the court hearing has been set.
3
Those wishing to schedule video conferences should refrain from
contacting Robinson, Watson, Mitchell, Thomas, or Dilmore directly,
unless no confirmation has been received after 24 hours of submission to
the Video Hearings email address.
(10) Advance notice is critical, and at least one (1) week advance notice is
necessary for video conferencing, so please use best efforts to schedule court
proceedings and attorney and probation consultations as much ahead of time as
possible -- and stick to them as much as possible.
(11) Video-conference requests will not be responded to on days the Clerk’s office is
closed – weekends and holidays.3 Requests received on such days will be responded
to the following business day on which the Clerk’s office is open. In addition, video
conferences will not be scheduled on days the Clerk’s office is closed even if the
facility is open.
(12) As noted above, the scheduling of a video-conference is a privilege allowed by the
USMS and its local contract holding facilities. As such, the USMS and/or the local
contract holding facility may deny any request, with or without advance notice.
Suspected and/or confirmed use of video-conferencing outside the intended purpose,
may result in the cancellation of and/or denial of any future requests submitted by
the requesting party.
(13) The Court or the local facility may limit video conferences to less time than is
requested due to an increase in video conference requests and/or court proceedings
which will take priority.
(14) Separate attorney/client consultations during the midst of court proceedings will
take place by muting the incoming sound at the courtroom control panel such that
only the inmate, defense counsel, and interpreter can be heard. IT staff will be
present to facilitate.
(15) As much as possible, initial appearances, arraignments and detention hearings
should be fit into the schedule set forth above, with the caveat that some attorney
consultations and probation visits may be pre-empted when arrests are made at
times not conducive to the schedule. Jails will be asked to make special
accommodation for these matters outside the schedule whenever possible.
(16) The Federal Public Defender and the U. S. Attorney’s Office have developed and
agreed upon certain “Consent to Proceed by Videoconference” forms specific to the
various proceedings that may take place by video. It is preferable that the judges
use the forms.
3
A list of holiday closures can be found on the court’s website at www.mssd.uscourts.gov.
4
(a) For proceedings before District Judges, the forms will be made available
to the prisoner at the facilities during attorney consultations and signed at
that time by the prisoner if agreeable. On Friday afternoons of the
consultation weeks, the USMS will collect all signed forms and return them
to the assigned District Judge’s CRD for other signatures and docketing.
(b) For proceedings before Magistrate Judges, the CRD will email the
forms needed for that particular proceeding, including the applicable
“Consent to Proceed by Videoconference” form, to the contacts at the contract
holding facility who will print them. The forms will be presented to the
defendant for signature during the video-conference hearing, and the signed
forms will be scanned and returned by email to the CRD. The originals will
be collected each week by the USMS as noted in subparagraph 12 (a), above.
(c) Alternate Arrangements for the Delivery/Retrieval of Forms.
Chambers staff are free to make alternate arrangements for the delivery and
retrieval of such forms subject to the agreement of the USMS and the
respective holding facility.
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