No-Show Prison Workers Cost Mississippi Taxpayers Millions

Prisoners, guards face danger from chronic understaffing by MTC

Second FBI prison probe in six years leads to removal of 10 employees. Staffers reportedly delivered steak, shrimp and meth to inmates.

A federal investigation into allegations of corruption at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility has led to the removal of 10 employees.

Mississippi News, PrisonKatherine MitchellSeptember 18, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi department of corrections, mississippi prisoners, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, CMCF, FBI, FBI prison probe, Carl Arnold, embezzlement, corruption, prison reform, mississippi prisons, Rankin County Prisons

Current COVID testing inside Mississippi prisons ‘inadequate and dangerous,’ lawyer says

Far more inmates inside Mississippi prisons have COVID-19 than are being detected, new reports suggest.

Nearly 150 Vermont prisoners in Mississippi positive for COVID-19

Nearly 150 Vermont inmates housed inside a private Mississippi prison have tested positive for COVID-19, but data posted online by the state Department of Corrections shows only 14 inmates infected in that prison.

Mississippi News, Prison, coronavirusKatherine MitchellAugust 11, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingVermont prisoners, coronavirus, Covid-19, Mississippi prisons, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, covid-19 unit, mississippi department of corrections, infected inmates, mississippi prisoners, Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, CoreCivic

‘They basically starved him to death’

Former Army National Guard officer Edward Stafford Knight went away for life in prison in August 2001.

His widow and others believe it turned into a death sentence.

News, Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJuly 13, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingTate Reeves, Veto, prison crisis, Department of justice, criminal justice reform, Mississippi Governor, parole, Mississippi prisons, Edward Stafford Knight, mississippi department of corrections, MDOC

Reeves prison reform bill veto invites federal intervention, advocate says

Without offering any meaningful explanation, Gov. Tate Reeves recently vetoed thoughtful, bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation that would have gone a long way toward addressing Mississippi’s current prison crisis.

Perspective, Civil RIghts, Prison, Prison ReformKatherine MitchellJuly 12, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingTate Reeves, Veto, prison crisis, Department of justice, bipartisan, criminal justice reform, Mississippi Governor, parole, Mississippi prisons, MDOC, mississippi department of corrections, J. Cliff Johnson

State law: No experience required for Miss. prisons chief

Mississippi’s new corrections commissioner will inherit the state’s worst prison crisis in half a century history, but, thanks to state law, no corrections experience is required.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellMarch 2, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, George Flaggs Jr., Corrections commissioner

Mississippi prison guards face attacks as their numbers dwindle, vacancies rise

PARCHMAN, Miss. — The attack on Jennifer White came as she started a morning shift at the most dangerous unit at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, the sprawling Delta prison farm here.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellFebruary 20, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, Parchman, Prison guards, Prison guard attacks, The Marshall Project, Prison Understaffing

Justice Department launches probe into deadly conditions at four Mississippi prisons

A month after deadly riots, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division had announced it is launching an investigation into four Mississippi prisons.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellFebruary 5, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Prison Riot

Anatomy of a Disaster

State leaders and lawmakers oversaw the gutting of the Mississippi Department of Corrections’ budget by $215 million over the past six years.

And now they must oversee the future of funding Mississippi’s prisons, one of which is imploding.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellFebruary 3, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi Governor, Tate Reeves, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, Prison Riot

Justice Department investigating Mississippi prisons

Confronted by horrific conditions and in the wake of recent uprisings inside Mississippi’s prisons that have left five dead, the Justice Department, in coordination with state authorities, has launched criminal and civil investigations with a look at possible charges, the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting has learned.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJanuary 17, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Mississippi department of health, Prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary

Want out of jail? First you have to take a fast-food job

JACKSON, Miss.—During her shifts at a Church’s Chicken, Annita Husband looked like the other employees. She wore the same blue and red polo shirt, greeted the same customers, and slung the same fried chicken and biscuits.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJanuary 9, 2020Mississippi Center for Investigative Reportingmississippi prisons, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, restitution, Flowood Restitution Center