Mississippi prisons may soon exceed capacity

Mississippi — the world’s leader in imprisoning people — will soon skyrocket past its capacity to hold them all.

News, Mississippi News, Broken Justice, PrisonJerry MitchellDecember 5, 2022inmates, prison capacity, prison population growth, MDOC, parole, Mississippi prisons, drug and alcohol problems, Burl Cain, recidivism, prison staffing

Mississippi prison population back on rise, thanks to flurry of parole rejections

Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation last year aimed at expanding parole eligibility, believing it could be a “net positive for Mississippi.”

News, Mississippi News, Prison, Prison ReformJerry MitchellMay 19, 2022Mississippi prisons, parole, parole board, inmates, Department of Corrections, drugs, rehab, staffing issues

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

COVID-19 in crowded Mississippi prisons ‘a disaster waiting to happen’

Mississippi corrections officials are putting the lives of approximately 6,000 inmates housed at the state’s two largest prisons at risk by failing to implement adequate safety precautions to protect them from the deadly COVID-19 virus, a federal lawsuit alleges.

Mississippi News, Coronavirus Pandemic, coronavirus, PrisonKatherine MitchellMay 16, 2020Mississippi prisons, Coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, coronavirus in prisons, Coronavirus in Mississippi prisons, Mississippi department of corrections, Mississippi Center for Justice, Covid-19 lawsuit, Covid-19 prisons, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, South Mississippi Correctional Institution