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Calls for prison reform in Mississippi after inmate murders and escapes
Over the last 10 days, five inmates were killed in different Mississippi state prisons. At one troubled site called Parchman Farm, two violent inmates escaped last week, but have since been caught. Mark Strassman reports on the situation in Parchman Farm and the claims that gangs, not the guards, run the facility....[
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Yahoo News, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
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Report: Mississippi Incarcerates More People Per Capita Than Russia and China . . . Combined
There is a rather shocking statistic out of the International Centre for Prison Studies this week: Mississippi locks up more people per capita than China and Russia combined. It turns out the “Hospitality State” may continue to have one of the lowest rankings in public education and employment but they will put you in jail faster than Vladimir Putin can say do svidaniya....[
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BuzzFlash, Monday, October 20, 2014
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Task force learns Mississippi prisons cost projected to skyrocket
JACKSON, Mississippi -- Unless something changes, members of a state task force were told the $361 million taxpayers are spending this year on prisons is projected to grow by $266 million over the next decade....[
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Associated Press, Wednesday, October 30, 2013
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Miss. sentencing, prison policies up for debate
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi judges and prosecutors told lawmakers Tuesday that they're tired of the uncertainty about how long people will stay in prison after sentencing....[
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Associated Press, Tuesday, September 24, 2013
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Grand jury recommends Harrison Co. jail expand
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) - A Harrison County grand jury has again recommended the county jail's booking area be expanded to separate violent and nonviolent offenders for the safety of inmates and personnel....[
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Associated Press, Friday, August 23, 2013
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Doug Davis to head state Parole Board
Gov. Phil Bryant has promoted former state Sen. Doug Davis of Hernando to head the five-member Mississippi Parole Board. Davis, a Republican, is an at-large parole board member who succeeded former Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin, who ......[
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Commercial Appeal, Friday, July 26, 2013
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MDOC commissioner: 4 community work centers slated to close in about a month will remain open
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Four community work centers scheduled to close July 15 will remain open, the Mississippi Department of Corrections says....[
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Associated Press, Tuesday, June 18, 2013
- Shocking photo shows prisoners rammed in an overcrowded cell at troubled jail where three were killed in gang clashes between inmates
Shocking photos show prisoners rammed in an overcrowded cell at a troubled jail where three inmates died in gang clashes and from which two escaped last week....[
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dailymail.co.uk, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
- Mississippi ranks near top for inmate deaths
Daniel Cottrell committed suicide on Oct. 14, 2011, in his cell at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian just six years into his 20-year prison sentence for racketeering.
He was 26 years old.
From the time Cottrell entered state custody on Sept. 26, 2005, until the day he hanged himself, at least 373 other state inmates also lost their lives behind bars and helped push Mississippi's prison mortality rate to one of the highest in the nation, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics....[
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Clarion Ledger, Monday, October 20, 2014
- Officials believe prison inmate killed by cellmate
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A prisoner serving time for child molestation was strangled by a fellow inmate earlier this month at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, prison officials said Tuesday....[
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Associated Press, Wednesday, June 18, 2014
- Seeing Squalor and Unconcern in a Mississippi Jail
JACKSON, Miss. — Open fires sometimes burn unheeded in the solitary-confinement units of the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, a privately run state prison in Meridian, 90 miles east of here....[
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New York Times, Sunday, June 8, 2014
- Justice Department Announces Investigation of Detention Center in Hinds County, Mississippi
The Justice Department announced today that it is opening a pattern or practice investigation of Hinds County Detention Center including both the Hinds County facility in Raymond, Mississippi, and the Jackson Detention Center, in Jackson, Mississippi. The investigation will focus on whether Hinds County protects prisoners from harm at the hands of other prisoners and staff. Attorneys for the County Board and the Sheriff were notified on June 2, 2014. They pledged cooperation with the investigation...[
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US Department of Justice, Tuesday, June 3, 2014
- The Fifth Circuit turns its back on a huge forensics scandal in Mississippi
With a curt, three-page ruling late last month, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied the post-conviction petition of Tavares Flaggs, a Mississippi man currently serving a life sentence for murder.
Flaggs was convicted in large part because of the testimony of Steven Hayne, a medical examiner who for about two decades was able to monopolize the autopsy business in Mississippi....[
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Washington Post, Friday, February 28, 2014
- Miss. officials probing fatal beating of inmate by other prisoner at Pearl state prison
PEARL, Mississippi — An inmate fatally beat another prisoner at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, state prison officials said Monday....[
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Associated Press, Monday, September 2, 2013
- Vendor employee charged with taking contraband to Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
PEARL, Miss. (AP) - Authorities say a truck driver for a private vendor has been charged with taking drugs and other contraband to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl....[
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Associated Press, Saturday, July 27, 2013
- Former Mississippi Corrections Officer Sentenced for Orchestrating Assault on Inmate
Kenny McLaughlin, 35, a corrections officer at the Stone County Regional Correctional Facility in Stone County, Miss., was sentenced today to serve one year in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of $6,000 for ordering the beating of an inmate at the detention facility in violation of federal civil rights laws.
McLaughlin pleaded guilty on Mar. 29, 2013 to willfully violating the civil rights of persons in his custody. According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, on May 12, 2008, McLaughlin, while working as a corrections officer, ordered an inmate to arrange an unwarranted assault on another inmate. A...[
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US Department of Justice, Wednesday, June 26, 2013
- MDOC preparing response to federal lawsuit over conditions at E. Miss. Correctional Facility
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - State corrections officials have until July 17 to respond to a federal lawsuit that challenges conditions at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility near Meridian in Lauderdale County....[
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Associated Press, Thursday, June 20, 2013
- Sheriff: Inmate Pushed Guard, Escaped From Hospital
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — An inmate is accused of escaping from custody in Mississippi by pushing down a guard and running away from a hospital....[
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US News, Wednesday, January 8, 2020
- Rights groups call for federal inquiry into Mississippi prisons
Prisoner advocates in the United States are calling for a federal investigation into the state of Mississippi's beleaguered prison system for possible civil rights violations, saying a recent spate of violence highlights deliberate violations of inmates' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment....[
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Aljazeera, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
- Five Mississippi inmates were killed in a week, officials say. Then two went missing.
An inmate is missing from the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman after five prisoners were killed and several others injured this week across the state’s corrections system. The state’s prisons are on lockdown as authorities try to identify what sparked the violence at three facilities....[
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Washington Post, Sunday, January 5, 2020
- Five inmates killed in past week in violence-plagued Mississippi prisons
A fifth inmate was killed early Friday at one of Mississippi's state prisons, the latest burst of violence amid a series of fatal prisoner stabbings and attacks that have roiled the state prison system over the past week....[
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NBC News, Friday, January 3, 2020
- 'Major disturbance': Fourth inmate killed as violence escalates in Mississippi prisons
JACKSON, Miss. – Five days after Mississippi Department of Corrections officials locked down prisons statewide after an inmate was killed, three more inmates have died and several more have been injured....[
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USA Today, Thursday, January 2, 2020
- Lockdown remains in place after deaths of inmates at Mississippi prisons
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Mississippi Department of Corrections has released a statement following the death of an inmate at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. MDOC said that the lockdown is still in place....[
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WMC Action News, Wednesday, January 1, 2020
- 1 escaped Mississippi inmate is captured, 2 still sought
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An inmate has been captured after escaping from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. A search continues for two others who escaped from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility....[
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WHNT.com, Sunday, July 7, 2019
- Mississippi Man’s Family Seeks Answers About His Beating Death in Jail
When a Mississippi man who worked as a landscaper was arrested on trespassing charges last year, it was a low-level crime that would normally have been settled with a fine if he had been found guilty....[
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The New York Times, Wednesday, March 6, 2019
- Inmate withholds guilty plea in prison riot
NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — An inmate charged in the May 2012 prison riot that resulted in the death of a correctional officer in Adams County appeared ready to plead guilty to conspiracy of murder before changing his mind in the courtroom....[
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Associated Press, Friday, June 13, 2014
- Inmate dies after fight at Wilkinson County prison
WOODVILLE, Miss. (AP) - A prison official says one inmate has died and several were injured in a fight at a prison in southwestern Mississippi that resulted in the facility being put on lockdown....[
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Associated Press, Monday, May 26, 2014
- Man sentenced in Mississippi prison riot
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man charged with participating in a deadly prison riot in Mississippi in 2012 has been sentenced to more than six years in prison....[
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Associated Press, Wednesday, February 26, 2014
- Corrections officials: Noxubee Co work center inmate fails to return from weekend pass
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Department of Corrections officials say a Noxubee County Community Work Center inmate has failed to return from a weekend pass....[
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Associated Press, Tuesday, July 16, 2013
- State inmate escapes from work site in Gulfport
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A 38-year-old state inmate assigned to a work center in Gulfport has escaped. Tara Booth of the Mississippi Department of Corrections tells The Sun Herald...[
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Associated Press, Thursday, July 11, 2013
- 11 inmates, 5 staff members injured at Miss. prison
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Eleven inmates and five staff members have been injured in an altercation at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman....[
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Associated Press, Friday, June 14, 2013
