Jackson Free Press

Christopher Epps, the long-tenured commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, and former Rankin County School Board President Cecil McCrory will be arraigned this later today on a 49-count indictment in Jackson.

Epps, 53, resigned abruptly Wednesday. The letter of resignation he submitted to Gov. Phil Bryant did not state a reason for the unexpected departure nor has MDOC made one public.

The Clarion-Ledger reported that federal officials seized Epps' Flowood home, a beach house on the Mississippi Coast and several automobiles.

Epps had been the longest serving prison chief in state history.

Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove first appointed Epps to lead the agency in 2002; two subsequent Republican governors, Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant, kept Epps in place.

McCrory is involved with several companies, including two that have done business with MDOC and came under scrutiny from state oversight officials.

The 49-count federal indictment alleges former Epps accepted more than $700,000 in bribes from McCrory.

The indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jackson also charges E. Cecil McCrory of Brandon and says he paid Epps to obtain contracts for himself and other companies.

The indictment says McCrory was a paid consultant for companies that received contracts from the Corrections Department to run private prisons, including Cornell Group, GEO Group and current contractor Management and Training Corp. The companies were named in the indictment but not charged.

The indictment charges Epps used the bribe money to pay mortgages on the house in Flowood and a Pass Christian condo.