[1] Although MDOC had been sued in two class-action suits in the 21st century on behalf of prisoners because of poor conditions, Epps was respected for his efforts to improve conditions by reducing the use of solitary confinement in Mississippi,[2] reducing the prison population by supporting earlier parole for non-violent offenders and establishing halfway houses for newly released inmates.
He had received what may have been more than $2 million in bribes from Cecil McCrory, a businessman and former Mississippi Republican state house member and others, including Robert Simmons.
He invited teams from Connecticut and reviewed the classification system, seeking to develop a better way to reward prisoners who modeled desired behavior.
(The previous law had required all convicted felons to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence, resulting in a dramatic expansion of the number of prisoners in the state, to 22,800 by 2007.)
[14] In April 2015, Epps' wife hired a Seattle forfeiture attorney to represent her in regard to the case involving their Flowood residence.
Epps leveraged the resulting increased equity together with another bribe payment to buy a condominium; he later traded up the latter for a larger, more expensive condo.
[14] According to Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner, the investigation was initiated after an attempt by MDOC to cover up a sexual assault of an inmate of a halfway facility in Walnut Grove, Mississippi.
[26] The federal government indicted many others of those who allegedly bribed Epps, such as Mark Longoria, CEO of Drug Testing Corporation of Houston, Texas, who pleaded guilty in August 2016.
[32][33] On July 17, Malone changed her plea to guilty of the charges that involved her furnishing bribes, in amounts of $1000 to $1,750 to Epps through McCrory, in return for the continuance of the medical services vendor monitoring and Medicaid eligibility contracting which the state had with AdminPros, LLC.
[38] The sentencing of Epps and Brandon businessman McCrory scheduled for July 19, 2016, was delayed by Judge Wingate to give their defense lawyers additional time to review materials concerning how much money was gained by the 15 corporations paying bribes to the pair.
Epps faced a possible 23 years after his 2015 guilty plea to money laundering and filing false tax returns related to $1.47 million in bribes.
Cecil McCrory originally pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering conspiracy and faced up to 20 years in prison.
On June 30, 2016, John Colette, Epps' defense attorney, said he received more than 1,500 pages of documents in the previous week and would require at least 30 days to review them.
[41] On December 21, 2016, Judge Wingate rejected McCrory's request to withdraw his plea, ruling it had been made with sufficient advice of counsel, and setting a new date for sentencing.
GEO had been paying McCrory $5,000 monthly, which President and Chief Operating Officer Wayne Calabrese, who retired in 2011, subsequently doubled.
[58] The attorney for Reddix said Epps demanded bribe payments, an assertion also previously made by defendants McCrory, Benjamin and Sam Waggoner.
In 2008, his company received a contract to "provide inmate health care services" at the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility; it was renewed in 2011.
[30] In a plea bargain, on May 3, 2017, Reddix, who was accused of paying over $170,000 in bribes, pleaded guilty to a single count of bribery, but his sentencing was postponed until September, with the defense challenging the prosecutors request for payment of $1.27 million in restitution.
Waggoner received 5 percent of the revenue as a consultant for Global Tel-Link, which provided phone services at Mississippi state prisons.
Alcorn County paid Benjamin, president and lobbyist for Mississippi Correctional Management (MCM), $114,000 a year for services to it, although he lived more than 200 miles away.
He formed MCM in 1996, when the state Department of Corrections and counties started hiring private contractors to operate prisons and smaller regional jails.
Benjamin said the company also has jail accreditation contracts worth $4,000 or $5,000 a month with other counties, including Hancock, Holmes, Marion, Pearl River, Washington and Yazoo.
His plea also covered bribes paid for drug and alcohol rehab programs which his company ran under contract to the state.
He is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution, Butner Low custody, North Carolina, with a scheduled release date of November 1, 2023.
In October 2018, four Louisiana businessmen: Michael LeBlanc Sr. and his son, Michael Jr.; Tawasky L. Ventroy, and Jacque B. Jackson, were indicted and arrested on charges of conspiracy, paying bribes, and attempting to pay bribes to Epps and Kemper County, Mississippi, Sheriff James Moore, who received $2,000 in casino chips from LeBlanc, Jr., in Biloxi.
He bribed Epps to guarantee keeping enough state prisoners in two Mississippi jails located in Alcorn and Chickasaw counties to assure that the two would remain profitable.
U.S. Attorney Michael Hurst of the Southern District of Mississippi thanked Moore for "coming forward and working with us to catch those who violate our corruption laws.
[71] Before Judge Wingate pronounced his sentence in July 2017, Epps explained he had considerable time to reflect upon what he'd done, asking forgiveness of the many he had harmed.
[75] Epps forfeited both his investment and bank accounts, his $310,000 Flowood residence, plus a $237,601 condo on the Gulf Coast and two Mercedes-Benz cars to resolve a $1,300,000 judgment against him.
[79] On May 19, 2020, the Mississippi appeals court ruled against Epps and his wife Catherjean who had litigated against paying their tax liabilities for the years 2007-2014, that had been assessed on those ill-gotten gains emanating from the later discovery of the bribery schemes.