Auditor Demands Private Prison Company Pay $7.4 Million to Mississippi
The auditor for Mississippi announced on April 13, 2026 that Management & Training Corporation (MTC), a Utah-based private prison company, owes the state $7.4 million. MTC operates two prisons in Mississippi—East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian and Wilkinson Correctional Facility in Woodville—as well as 19 facilities in seven other states, making it the third-largest private prison company after The GEO Group and CoreCivic. The demand, which State Auditor Shad White said was among the largest civil demands in the history of his office, arose from MTC’s failure to maintain enough staff to ensure the safety of prisoners and guards.
White’s investigation into MTC began more than five years ago, in response to allegations that the level of understaffing at its prisons violated the contract the company signed with the state Department of Corrections (DOC). As PLN reported, White demanded $1.9 million from the firm in November 2022, but MTC eventually paid $5.125 million in September 2023, after nonprofit The Marshall Project flagged up to $7 million that the DOC had been charged for ghost workers on shifts that were never actually completed. [See: PLN , Jan. 2023, p.58; and Mar. 2024, p.57.] White, in seeking a new $7.4 million payment, has sent the demand to the attorney general’s office, which could take the matter to court.
Some of the $7.4 million fee levied against MTC stem from fines issued from White’s office, including those from a prison, the Marshall County Correctional Facility, that Mississippi took over in 2021 due to short staffing. At the Marshall County facility and elsewhere, MTC collected millions through its “ghost workers” scheme.
Source: Mississippi Today
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