JACKSON (AP) — Mississippi’s Democratic attorney general said Wednesday he believes Republican ex-Gov. Haley Barbour might have violated the state constitution by pardoning some inmates who failed to give sufficient public notice that they were seeking to have their records cleared.

Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution says any inmate seeking a pardon must publish notice about his intentions. Before the governor can grant it, the notice must appear 30 days in a newspaper in or near the county where the person was convicted.

Attorney General Jim Hood said it’s not clear whether all the inmates pardoned by Barbour met the publication requirement, and Hood believes it’s likely that some did not.

“It’s unfortunate Gov. Barbour didn’t read the constitution,” Hood said at a news conference Wednesday.

Barbour spokeswoman Laura Hipp said: “The burden to publish is on the person seeking the pardon. The governor has the constitutional authority to pardon.”

Barbour was limited to two terms in office. As one of his final acts before his successor, Republican Phil Bryant, was inaugurated Tuesday, Barbour pardoned or granted early release from prison for more than 200 people. Some were still in prison, but most had been released already.

Hood was in court late Wednesday asking a Hinds County circuit judge to halt the release of any pardoned inmates if they are still awaiting the completion of paperwork to get out. Bailiffs barred several journalists from the courtroom.

Hood also was asking Judge Tomie Green to set a separate hearing to call in five pardoned inmates who were released this past weekend to make them prove they had met the publication requirement.

Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Singletary told The Associated Press that the five are the only pardoned inmates who’d been released by Wednesday evening. She said about 21 inmates who received pardons or early release were still waiting to get out. Processing paperwork generally takes several days because, among other things, the department has to give victims 48 hours’ notice before an inmate is released.

Neither Hipp nor Barbour’s lead staff attorney, Amanda Jones Tollison, responded to questions about whether Barbour’s staff verified that pardoned inmates had met the publication requirement.

Each of the five inmates released this past weekend had worked as a trusty at the Governor’s Mansion. They are David Gatlin, convicted of killing his estranged wife in 1993; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least two prior convictions.

Relatives of the killers’ victims said they were outraged by the release, and some said they’re worried for their own safety.

Singletary said each of the five men published legal notices within the past month.

Hood said several of his staff members spent hours Wednesday calling newspapers and checking whether others on the clemency list published their notices in advance.

State records show most of the inmates on Barbour’s list received full, unconditional pardons. Several were given medical or conditional releases.