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

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