Two Mississippi Prisons Lose Power During Winter Storm
The record-setting winter storm in January 2026 that brought freezing temperatures and snowfall to large swathes of the Eastern half of the country left at least 17 people dead and nearly a million without power. Much like the deep freeze that devastated Texas in February 2021, the damage from this year’s storm extended to Southern states whose infrastructure is largely unprepared for blizzard-like conditions.
In Mississippi, as the storm pushed through on January 24 and 25, the power was temporarily knocked out at two prisons: the Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP) in Parchman and Delta Correctional Facility (DSF) in Greenwood. At MSP, which locks up close to 1,900 prisoners, a downed tree was responsible and repairs took at least six hours, according to state DOC Commissioner Burl Cain. The Commissioner told Mississippi Today that DSF, a prison with a population of about 300 women, was running on a backup generator on the 25th.
But inquiries from state Representative Becky Currie, a Republican who helms the House Corrections Committee, revealed that the generators at DSF were not fully operational. Currie learned from prison officials that not only had the generators not been checked before the storm, but they were only keeping some of the lights on and not sufficiently heating the building. “I’m raising hell, but it is an emergency,” she told Mississippi Today. “This is another major mistake for the Department of Corrections.”
Currie added, “I can’t imagine being in a tin can with no heat. We all plan for storms in Mississippi. That’s why there is not a loaf of bread on the shelf (in the grocery store). They are responsible for thousands of lives. There are hospice patients, dialysis patients. And they can’t make sure the generators are going to work in time of need?”
Photos from DSF obtained by Mississippi Today show a prisoner’s cell window covered in ice and a fire set down the hall in an attempt to keep warm as outside temperatures plummeted to 19 degrees.
Source: Mississippi Today
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