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Mississippi Reopens Walnut Grove Prison Just in Time for Prison Population Explosion

Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023

Filed under: Overcrowding, Rural Prisons

Mississippi Reopens Walnut Grove Prison Just in Time for Prison Population Explosion by Harold Hempstead byHarold Hempstead In October 2022, the Mississippi Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force reported there were 2,192 more state prisoners than the year before. That pushed the state Department of Corrections (DOC) close to …

Mississippi Demands $1.9 Million From MTC For Short-Staffing Private State Prison

Article • January 1, 2023 • from PLN January, 2023

Filed under: Management and Training Corporation, Staffing, Fines

Mississippi Demands $1.9 Million From MTC For Short-Staffing Private State Prison by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss On November 14, 2022, Mississippi State Auditor Shad White submitted a civil demand for payment of $1.9 million to Utah-based private prison operator Management and Training Corporation (MTC) for violating its contractual …

Former Deputy Warden Gets Two Years for Assaulting Mississippi Prisoner

Article • November 30, 2022 • from PLN December, 2022

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings

Former Deputy Warden Gets Two Years for Assaulting Mississippi Prisoner by Kevin Bliss by Kevin W. Bliss On September 2, 2022, the former deputy warden of Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for a brutal assault that …

Mississippi Attempts to Offload Prisoner Healthcare Costs Onto Medicaid

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Cost of Prison Systems, Health Care Fraud

Mississippi Attempts to Offload Prisoner Healthcare Costs Onto Medicaid by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso On April 21, 2022, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed H.B. 936, a new law creating “special care facilities” to house and provide healthcare for about 600 “medically frail” state prisoners eligible for parole …

DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement

DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On April 20, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report finding conditions at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman likely violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the prisoners …

Over $386,000 Awarded to Mississippi Prisoner, Plus Hip Surgery He Was Denied

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: Failure to Treat, Settlements

Over $386,000 Awarded to Mississippi Prisoner, Plus Hip Surgery He Was Denied by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On March 31, 2022, the federal court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted a state prisoner’s petition and enjoined the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide him total hip …

$6,000 Sanction for Mississippi Federal Prosecutor Who Lied to Court About COVID-19 Vaccination Status

Article • October 31, 2022 • from PLN November, 2022

Filed under: COVID-19, Failure to Protect (General), Sanctions

$6,000 Sanction for Mississippi Federal Prosecutor Who Lied to Court About COVID-19 Vaccination Status by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On July 7, 2022, a federal judge for the Southern District of Mississippi levied a $6,000 sanction against a federal prosecutor for lying about his COVID-19 vaccination status. When …

News in Brief

Article • September 30, 2022 • from PLN October, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A jail guard in Chilton County, Alabama, was arrested on July 21, 2022, and charged with promoting contraband, the Clanton Advertiser reported. The guard, Tyler Ryan Couch, is accused of organizing an effort to smuggle drugs to detainees. Though jail policy forbids guards from transmitting …

Federal Court Puts Troubled Mississippi Jail in Receivership

Article • September 1, 2022 • from PLN September, 2022

Filed under: Jail Misconduct, Prison/Jail Murders, Conditions of Confinement

Federal Court Puts Troubled Mississippi Jail in Receivership by David Reutter, Keith Sanders by David Reutter and Keith Sanders On July 29, 2022, the federal court for the Southern District of Mississippi took the dramatic step of placing Hinds County’s Raymond Detention Center (RDC) under federal receivership. A series of …

Three Killed in Gang Activity at Mississippi Private Prisons Plus High-Profile Escape, But Only One MTC Guard Arrested

Article • August 1, 2022 • from PLN August, 2022

Filed under: Management and Training Corporation, Guard Misconduct, Prison Gangs, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death)

Three Killed in Gang Activity at Mississippi Private Prisons Plus High-Profile Escape, But Only One MTC Guard Arrested by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss Though a state investigation concluded a Mississippi prisoner had inside help making a short-lived escape in September 2021, no charges have ever been announced for officials …

Doe v. Fitch, MS, Order on Motion for Atty's Fees and Costs, Sex Offender Registration, 2022

Brief • August 1, 2022

Filed under: Sex Offender Registration, Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act

Doe v. Fitch, MS, Order on Motion for Atty's Fees and Costs, Sex Offender Registration, 2022 Case 3:16-cv-00789-CWR-FKB Document 161 Filed 08/01/22 Page 1 of 18 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI NORTHERN DIVISION ARTHUR DOE, et al. PLAINTIFFS V. CAUSE NO. 3:16-CV-789-CWR-FKB LYNN …

News in Brief

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A former Alabama Department of Corrections (DOC) guard was indicted on April 22, 2022, for assaulting three prisoners and then filing a false report to cover it up, the Associated Press reported. The guard, Lorenzo Mills, 55, was charged with beating three male prisoners with a wooden baton at Draper Correctional …

Ineffective Mississippi Prison Industries on the Chopping Block After Scathing Report

Article • June 1, 2022 • from PLN June, 2022

Filed under: Prison Labor

Ineffective Mississippi Prison Industries on the Chopping Block After Scathing Report by Ashleigh Dye by Ashleigh Dye On April 18, 2022, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed House Bill 863, legislation that will repeal the 32-year-old law creating the Mississippi Prison Industries Corporation (MPIC), a non-profit entity tasked with providing …

DOJ-Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman)-CRD, April 2022

Publication • April 20, 2022

Filed under: Prison Conditions

DOJ-Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman)-CRD, April 2022 Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division APRIL 20, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................ 2 II. INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS ........................................................................................... 3 III. THE PARCHMAN FACILITY ......................................................................................... 4 IV. DEFICIENT CONDITIONS …

Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman), DOJ CRD, 2022

Publication • April 20, 2022

Filed under: Prison Conditions

Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary(Parchman), DOJ CRD, 2022 Investigation of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division APRIL 20, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ........................................................................................ 2 II. INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS ........................................................................................... 3 III. THE PARCHMAN FACILITY ......................................................................................... 4 IV. DEFICIENT …

News In Brief

Article • April 1, 2022 • from PLN April, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News In Brief by Arizona: After two escaped prisoners were recaptured and returned to the Arizona State Prison in Florence on January 31, 2021, Phoenix station KNXV reported that at least part of the blame for their escape was assigned to short-staffing of guards at the state Department of Corrections …

News in Brief

Article • March 1, 2022 • from PLN March, 2022

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: In Mobile on January 21, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced that an 18-month federal prison sentence for bribery had been handed down by a federal court to Lakerdra Shanta Snowden, 31, a former guard at the Escambia County …

Fifth Circuit Dismisses Appeal by Mississippi Prisoner It Calls “Vexatious Litigant”

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: Frivolous Litigation (PLRA)

Fifth Circuit Dismisses Appeal by Mississippi Prisoner It Calls “Vexatious Litigant” by On August 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a Mississippi prisoner who had filed at least a dozen federal lawsuits pro se since 2004 and admitted using them “against his custodians …

Fifth Circuit Refuses to Issue Injunction After Mississippi Psychiatric Prison Improves Conditions

Article • January 1, 2022 • from PLN January, 2022

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Injunctions

Fifth Circuit Refuses to Issue Injunction After Mississippi Psychiatric Prison Improves Conditions by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 5, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to reverse a district court and order an injunction against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) because, during …

News in Brief

Article • December 1, 2021 • from PLN December, 2021

Filed under: News in Brief

News in Brief by Alabama: A 20-year-old guard at the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, was arrested on October 29, 2021, on charges that he attempted to smuggle methamphetamine into the jail. According to a report by Huntsville TV station WHNT, the guard, Matthew Moran, faces one count …