PARCHAMN, Miss.–The Mississippi Dept. of Corrections is still 500 employees short of what it needs to be compliant with Dept. of Justice requirements, despite having gained nearly 500 correctional officers and workers in related jobs. Commissioner Burl Cain and staff went before the state Senate Appropriations Committee last week, to ask for increases to their budget.
Walnut Grove
He said part of the money spent last year was on improvements at the Walnut Grove correctional Facility.
“We’re…spending $8 million at Walnut Grove on doors and locks. These are to be in compliance with the Justice Department and the things that they have for us to do,” said Cain.
“We realized we needed more restricted housing beds, so we rearranged the way we operate and opened a few more up and changed around the Walnut Grove addiction program and gained 250 beds for restrictive housing.”
Cain said they have 925 vacant beds. The facility can house nearly 1,500 inmates.
Mississippi’s current prison population is 17,593 in prisons spread across the state.
Keeping Up to Date
Cain said his department has spent more than $73 million renovating the state prison at Parchman since he took over as commissioner to make it more safe and secure.
“That’s renovating all the different things that we’ve renovated, including death row, which we have finished that. It will be occupied Feb. 15,” he told the Committee.
Cain said the improvements have made that unit more secure.
“It’s 56 beds. It cost $14 million to build or rebuild. It’s pretty much a state-of-the-art death row now,” he said.
Corrections is also upgrading locks and security systems throughout the entire department and upgrading its fleet of vehicles.
Another challenge that the department faces is the rising cost of food and supplies. Still another challenge is maintenance. Inmates break and destroy property and the department is required to fix what is broken.
Cain said he is also working hard to cut down on the number of gang members in the state prison system and plans to have legislation introduced and he hopes passed, to be able to provide jobs for each person in prison to keep them occupied.
“Our goal is within three years to not have a gang issue,” he said.
Cain said the number of gang members has been reduced from more than 5,000 to just over 1,300 people involved.
