An inmate convicted of causing a levee breach in northeast Missouri during the historic flood of 1993 has his first parole hearing Wednesday in Jefferson City.
56-year-old James Scott is serving a life prison sentence at the maximum-security Jefferson City Correctional Center. He was the first Missouri inmate convicted of causing a catastrophe. Scott has maintained his innocence.
While there were no deaths from the Mississippi River levee break, more than 14,000 acres of farmland were flooded and bridges were destroyed.
Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) spokeswoman Karen Pojmann tells 939 the Eagle that Scott’s first parole hearing is set for today. She notes parole hearings are not open to the news media or to the public.
Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board is NOT expected to make a decision today: decisions on parole normally take anywhere from six to eight weeks.