Mississippi must fix ‘foul-tasting, smelly’ water at Parchman, groups say. Corrections head responds: Water is ‘absent’ of bacteria.

Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman inmates drink foul-tasting, smelly, and potentially contaminated water, say the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Resources Defense Council.

Mississippi News, News, Prison Reform, PrisonJerry MitchellSeptember 10, 2021Mississippi inmates, Burl Cain, Parchman, Mississippi Corrections Commissioner, drinking water, Parchman water, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Resources Defense Council, MDOC, SPLC

Facing slashed budgets, desperate prison officials look to religious volunteers for programs that states refuse to fund, expert says

In the wake of states slashing prison spending by billions, desperate corrections officials are throwing a Hail Mary.

Mississippi News, News, Prison Reform, PrisonJerry MitchellMay 25, 2021Mississippi inmates, Burl Cain, Angola, Parchman, Mississippi Corrections Commissioner, MDOC, seminaries, Ruth Graham, Prison ministry, religious volunteers, Leavell College

Burl Cain remade Angola prison in his own image. Can he do the same with notorious Parchman?

Burl Cain burnished his reputation as a reformer inside the walls of one of the nation’s bloodiest prisons, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where stabbings, beatings and killings were commonplace.

Mississippi News, News, Prison Reform, PrisonKatherine MitchellMarch 17, 2021Mississippi inmates, Burl Cain, Angola, Parchman, Mississippi Corrections Commissioner, MDOC, prison conditions, seminaries, prison chaplains

Mississippi leaders say they can’t expand Medicaid, citing the cost. (What they don’t say is they’ve already expanded it to cover inmates.)

Mississippi makes it impossible for many of the state’s most impoverished to qualify for Medicaid.

Mississippi News, News, Mississippi SpotlightKatherine MitchellFebruary 4, 2021COVID-1 9, covid, Mississippi Medicaid, federal money, expand coverage, medicaid expansion, pandemic, Mississippi Spotlight, Unsteady Pulse, Mississippi inmates, medicaid coverage, MississippiCares, Richard Roberson