‘The Gangs Run the Prison’: Witness Disputes Official Parchman Death Account

A gang helmsman at Unit 30B of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Miss., shouted a threatening message about some inmates he had singled out from that unit in January 2020.

News, Prison, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellDecember 10, 2022Parchman, inmate murder, prisoner death, prison gangs, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Unit 30B, Burl Cain, DOJ investigation, constitutional rights violation, prison conditions, murder witness, dope, drugs

Justice Department hammers Mississippi State Penitentiary for violent, inhumane conditions

Justice Department officials said Wednesday that conditions at the State Penitentiary at Parchman violate the Constitution.

News, Mississippi News, Prison, Prison ReformKatherine MitchellApril 20, 2022Justice department, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, MCIR, Propublica, inhumane conditions, violence, gang control, prisoners

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

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

Lawmakers refused to increase an infamous prison's funding. Then, chaos erupted.

One prisoner strangled another to death while other inmates cheered the killing. Two convicts escaped a dilapidated building by walking out an open door. Maximum-security detainees freely roamed hallways, beating and threatening others.

Prison, Prison Reform, Mississippi NewsKatherine MitchellJanuary 8, 2020prison violence, Locked Down, mississippi prisons, SMCI, Prison gangs, prison reform, mississippi department of corrections, mississippi news, Parchman, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Convicts escaped, Prison murder