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

News reports of chaotic conditions in Miss. prisons spark bipartisan call for reform

Top Mississippi officials called for a review of the state’s increasingly troubled prison system, following stories by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica that documented chaotic conditions in the state prisons.

Prison Reform, PrisonKatherine MitchellSeptember 6, 2019mississippi center for investigative reporting, SMCI, prison reform, mississippi prisons

Inside the prison where inmates set each other on fire and gangs have more power than guards

LEAKESVILLE, Miss. — Jeffery Wilemon clutched his gut, throbbing in pain as he lay on his bed inside the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in April. But there was no way for him to cry out — not unless he wanted another beating.