MDOC disputes Department of Justice findings but willing to work on improvements

Lici Beveridge, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
·3 min read
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Mississippi Department of Corrections officials say they are doing what they can to recruit and retain staff, a problem they say exists in prisons across the nation.

Staffing issues, they said, are at the heart of what the Department of Justice is calling "deliberate indifference" to the many issues the DOJ found in its investigations into some of the state's public and private prisons, namely the state-run Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and South Mississippi Correctional Institution and the private Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.

The report follows the 2022 findings of the Department of Justice's investigation into the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Prisoners were living under similar intolerable conditions, in which the DOJ said MDOC officials knew of the problems yet again acted with "deliberate indifference."

The investigations began in 2020, after riots broke out in January and the state saw a record number of deaths of people in custody that year either by violence, suicide or alleged natural causes.

Among the issues in the most recent report are numerous instances of violence perpetrated on incarcerated people, rampant gang activity, failure to stop the influx of dangerous contraband and for some prisoners. prolonged periods of restrictive housing "in appalling conditions."

Click here to read the full Department of Justice report.

A former prison investigator shows a shank he collected at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility where he had once been employed. The facility is a private prison in Woodville that is critically understaffed and conditions are said to be abhorrent, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice.
A former prison investigator shows a shank he collected at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility where he had once been employed. The facility is a private prison in Woodville that is critically understaffed and conditions are said to be abhorrent, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice.

While the U.S. Department of Justice said extreme measures are needed to correct the problems the department identified in its report, MDOC officials dispute the allegations made in the report.

"While we disagree with the findings, we will work with the DOJ to identify possible resolutions to enhance inmate safety and continue ongoing efforts to improve operations at MDOC," spokesperson Kate Head said in an email.

She said the report's two main areas of focus — inmate-on-inmate violence and the use of restrictive housing — are the products of understaffing.

"At the core of both issues is the ongoing need for increased staffing — an issue faced by prisons across the country," MDOC spokesperson Kate Head said in an email. "Over the past four years, MDOC has worked tirelessly to increase staff through additional compensation, the development of career ladders, streamlining the hiring process, job fairs and implementing special duty pay.

"We're grateful for the often thankless work of the men and women of MDOC, and we look forward to continuing our efforts to recruit additional staff."

Additionally, MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain has worked to stem gang activity by moving known gang leaders to prisons in other states where they are unknown and have no power, the Clarion Ledger reported in an earlier story.

Mississippi prison crisis: What happened to bring federal agents to investigate Parchman?

Seminary graduates take a moment of prayer during the dedication of the newly constructed chapel at the Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW) at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, Miss., Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Seminary graduates take a moment of prayer during the dedication of the newly constructed chapel at the Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW) at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl, Miss., Thursday, June 15, 2023.

Cain implemented additional educational opportunities for incarcerated people, by offering both educational and vocational programs and a seminary for would-be ministers and chaplains.

The state also is preparing to shutter Parchman and move prisoners and staff to other locations.

But that is not enough, the Department of Justice said.

The DOJ report said there were at least 575 assaults at the three prisons over a one-and-a-half- to two-year period and most likely many others that went unreported. Many of those assaults resulted in serious bodily injuries that required hospitalization.

"In light of the large number of documented assaults at Central Mississippi, South Mississippi and Wilkinson, MDOC officials cannot claim ignorance of the substantial threat of violence at these facilities," the report said. "These figures also likely underestimate the violence. Gross understaffing and poor supervision most likely cause assaults and fights to go unreported."

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Mississippi prisons agency responds to DOJ prison conditions report