JACKSON, Mississippi (CNN) -- It's triggered an emotional controversy.





The pardons of convicted killers by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour has forced Mississippians to take a look at an ageless program that employed violent men -- including convicted murderers -- inside the governor's mansion and put those men on a fast track to a full pardon -- and freedom.





The program, known as the Governor's Trusty program, is now front-and-center at the Mississippi capitol. No one seems to know how long the program has been in effect, or how it got started.





"It's almost closed," said Mississippi state Rep. Bobby Moak, a Democrat who's helping to spearhead legislation to change the program and the governor's power to pardon.





"You can't go into this capitol dome and ask somebody to tell you about that particular program ... to tell you how they're (inmates are) vetted, who is chosen, why they are chosen or anything else," Moak told CNN.





What is known is that in his final days in office, Barbour signed full and complete pardons for five violent offenders serving life sentences -- including four men who had committed murder.





These men were trusties -- selected by the Mississippi Department of Corrections because of their exemplary behavioral record while in prison to work at a variety of jobs, including as servants and handymen in the governor's mansion.





CNN was able to track down one of the pardoned murderers in Mississippi. Almost 11 years to the day that he shot his wife in the back and killed her, in front of a room full of witnesses, Anthony McCray spoke with CNN's Martin Savidge.





Savidge: "What kinds of things would you do at the governor's mansion?"





McCray: "I did housekeeping. Shined door knobs. Washed cars and stuff like that. I cooked with the chef. That's it."





Savidge: "How long were you there?"





McCray: "Three years."





Savidge: "What was the change like for going from prison to the governor's mansion?"





McCray: "Well, first I had to get used to it because I had been in prison so long. I had to adjust to it, but down the road it was OK. Everybody was nice to you, treat you nice. You just do your chores."





Savidge: "Better living conditions?"





McCray: "Yes, sir.





Savidge: "You'd have your own room?"





McCray: "Yes, sir. You'd have your own room. There was six rooms. You'd have your own room. You'd get up and it's time to go to work. You eat your breakfast and go to work.





Savidge: "And this was always at the governor's mansion?"





McCray: "Yes, sir.





Savidge: "Could you leave?"





McCray: "No. you couldn't go nowhere."





That prison inmates like McCray -- who pleaded guilty in the death of his wife, Jennifer -- were afforded such a situation is the very thing that infuriates Ronald Bonds. His sister was McCray's wife, gunned down after the couple had argued at an after-hours club. Bonds helped raise his sister's two young children.





"How do you get a convicted murderer ... to go work at the governor's mansion?" he asked incredulously.





"I don't know what he could have done. You've got some folks that can do some pretty devious things to get what they want," he told CNN.





"The governor must not have no grandkids coming in ... cause I wouldn't trust them folks," added Bonds, referring to the trusties.





Barbour has defended his decision. Barbour says he believes in second chances and that men who committed crimes of passion are least likely to repeat their crimes.





"I have no doubt in my mind that these men have repented, have been redeemed, have come back hard-working to prepare themselves to go out
Where do the inmates live and work? Where do selected inmates live and work? What is a victim's relative quoted as saying?
inside the governor's mansion inside the governor's mansion "How do you get a convicted murderer ... to go work at the governor's mansion?"
question: Where do the inmates live and work?, answer: inside the governor's mansion | question: Where do selected inmates live and work?, answer: inside the governor's mansion | question: What is a victim's relative quoted as saying?, answer: "How do you get a convicted murderer ... to go work at the governor's mansion?"