New Lawsuit: Mississippi Prison Has 'Abhorrent Conditions'
The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman is a violent, rat-infested place where inmates live in “abhorrent conditions” and their medical needs are routinely ignored, attorneys say in a new lawsuit filed on behalf of 152 prisoners.
OPINION: Prison Reform and the State: The Impending Confrontation
The prison-reform rallies held at the Mississippi Capitol on Jan. 24 and Feb. 1, 2020, at the Governor's Mansion are evidence that dubious government-approved rallies don't just happen in "communist" countries.
OPINION: Granting Clemency One Solution to Mississippi Prison Crisis
"Over the last few weeks, news about the conditions of Mississippi's prison system have exposed the need to see the humanity of people in prison."
Less Blues, More Gospel In Gov. Tate Reeves' State of the State
New Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves closed his State of the State address Monday night by promising to "sing the gospel" of Mississippi, after rejecting pessimism, pettiness, ivory towers, gender studies and the "arrogance" of "metropolitan narcissists," not necessarily in that order.
'Beaten, Broken, Tired': Prison Protest Draws Families, Activists to Mississippi Capitol
Families mourned the death of their loved ones while in Mississippi Department of Corrections custody and shared their fears for those who are still alive and enduring squalid conditions in a protest outside the State Capitol in downtown Jackson Friday.
OPINION: Ugly Mississippi Prison Conditions Need Humanitarian Reforms
The era of mass incarceration involves both prison overcrowding and the nature of private prisons, a controversy to which the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman has also been linked.
State's Payments to CoreCivic for Housing Inmates at Private Prison May Exceed Legal Limits
Mississippi's emergency contract with a private prison corporation to house 375 inmates could exceed legal limits even more than previously known.
Refugees Locked Up In Mississippi: ‘Where Are the Family Values?’
Under the Trump administration, CoreCivic has a new mission at the Adams County Correctional Center: to house asylum seekers who are in the custody of the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agency, also known as ICE.
DOSSIER: Mississippi Secrets Revealed, from 'Ole Miss' to RFK to Charles Overby
"Most people in Mississippi who do not agree with the radical-conservative, racist status quo have always been afraid to speak publicly about it—certainly at least the white ones."
Deepest Midnight: Cedric Willis and The Failure of Mississippi Justice
Cedric Willis, then 19, stirred in his bed and looked up at his grandmother Sally. She had the smooth, dark skin of a woman 20 years younger, and her black hair, cropped short, rested atop her head like a crown. Bright beams of morning sunshine illuminated her through the blinds.
MDOC Hits ‘Breaking Point’
Inmate deaths are not a new phenomenon in Mississippi. Some family members and activist organizations, like the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, have pointed to a lack of funding to explain rising prison violence.
OPINION: 'Chaos or Community'? Citizens Co-conspirators in Broken Criminal System
"Mississippi leaders have historically created and encouraged incarceration as an intentional pathway for a segment of Mississippi's society, disproportionately the African American community."
Legal Group Seeks Federal Inquiry into Mississippi Prisons
Prisoner advocates are calling on the federal government to investigate Mississippi’s prison system for possible civil rights violations, saying the violence of recent days highlights deliberate violations of inmates’ constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
One of Two Escapees from Troubled Mississippi Prison in Custody
One of two prisoners believed to have escaped from one of several Mississippi prisons recently rocked by violence is back in custody, authorities said early Sunday.
Mississippi Prison Deaths Follow Warnings of Meager Funding, Shortages
Three more Mississippi prisoners have died at the hands of other inmates in the six days since the Mississippi Department of Corrections initiated a statewide prison lockdown last Sunday, bringing the week's death toll to four.
Fourth Death in Mississippi Prisons; Judge Says Other Prison OK
Another Mississippi inmate has died at the hands of a fellow inmate, bringing the death toll to four amid disturbances over the past week in the state prison system.
Judge Rules 1 Mississippi Prison OK, Among Deaths at Others
A federal judge has rejected claims that conditions in a Mississippi prison are unconstitutionally harsh. His ruling comes amid violence at three other corrections facilities that resulted in the deaths of three inmates this week.
Lawsuit: Inmates Have the Right to Free, Secular Books in Prison
Big House Books, a nonprofit that sends free books by request to inmates, filed a lawsuit against the South Mississippi Correctional Institution this week because inmates there cannot receive books that are donated, the lawsuit says.
Debtors’ Prisons Out, Parole For More People
Criminal-justice reform is and has been a bipartisan issue in the Mississippi Legislature in recent years, and 2018 is no exception.
Sheriffs Decry Cutbacks, Private Prison Contracts
Mississippi sheriffs packed into Room 113 at the Capitol Monday to express frustrations after the Mississippi Department of Corrections announced a reduction in inmates housed at the 15 regional facilities in the state even as taxpayer money is going to fund private, corporate-operated prisons.
Sabotage, Death, Danger: Private Prison on Trial
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Prison Project of the ACLU and two other law firms brought a class-action lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections back in 2013 due to conditions at EMCF.
Private Prison Trial Starts Today Over Alleged Squalor, Rats, Deaths
Inmates housed at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility alleged squalor conditions, solitary confinement practices, lack of medical and mental health care, and an overall unsafe environment. Five years later, the case goes to trial before U.S. District Judge William Barbour today.
MDOC Wants New Private Prison Contracts
The Mississippi Department of Corrections is ending its contracts with a Utah-based private prison firm to operate four state penitentiaries and rebidding the work.
Miss. Leaders Examine Ways to Reduce Prison Costs
Mississippi leaders on Wednesday pledged bipartisan cooperation to make the state's criminal justice system more effective and less expensive.
MDOC Sticks with Private Prisons
Sometime between the 8:45 p.m. and the 9:15 p.m. staff shift change on July 30, 2010, Tracy Alan Province, John Charles McCluskey and Daniel Kelly Renwick escaped from Arizona State Prison-Kingman. Just after 10 p.m., perimeter-patrol officers discovered a 30-by-22-inch hole in the fence. Two hours after the prison determined the inmates had escaped, Arizona Department of Corrections assumed command and the U.S. Marshals Service launched a manhunt.
Chris Epps, Ex-Prison Boss, Pleads Not Guilty in Corruption Case
Christopher B. Epps, the former director of Mississippi's prison system, sat in federal courthouse as some of the people around him made small talk, some even joking about the charges Epps faces.
Private Prison, Public Problems
Gail Tyree exited U.S. Highway 84 onto Hobo Fork Road and drove through the rose-adorned entrance of the sprawling Adams County Correctional Center. A female correctional officer leaving the prison's main administration building scrutinized Tyree's car as she circled the parking lot.
In Prison Reform, Will Racism Persist?
Mississippi is going to make its criminal-justice system work better. That's how newly minted House Corrections Committee Chairman Tommy Taylor, R-Boyle, started a joint meeting of the Mississippi House Corrections and Judiciary B committees.
State Prisons End Conjugal Visits
Although its precise origins are unclear, Parchman was the first penal institution in the U.S. to permit conjugal visits.
Report: Meridian Prison Still a ‘Cesspool’
New information about a troubled private prison raises questions about a Jackson company that has a contract to provide medical care and the possible role of a local judge.
