The state made substantial amounts of money from these arrangements, which created an incentive to have minor infractions criminalized in order to arrest more people and sentence them.

After ending the convict leasing system, the State of Mississippi began to acquire property to build prisons.

Later the state purchased the Oakley Farm, located in Hinds County, 25 miles (40 km) from Jackson.

By the end of the 20th century, Mississippi had one of the largest state prison systems in the country, with a rising number of persons incarcerated even as crime rates fell.

Corrections Corporation of America and Cornell Companies were two early contractors; the latter was acquired by GEO Group in 2010, which took over its three contracts in Mississippi.

Prisoners and their families made numerous complaints about conditions in these facilities, citing high rates of violence and sexual abuse, rampant drugs, lack of medical care and education, and other problems.

This case was settled in federal court in 2012, requiring the state to quickly transfer youth offenders to a state-run facility to be operated according to juvenile justice standards.

The ACLU and SPLC filed suit against the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, established for prisoners with serious mental illness, in 2013.

The class-action suit at East Mississippi Correctional Facility is proceeding; the court affirmed the status of the plaintiffs in 2015.

[8] In 2008, the state passed SB 2136, to enable non-violent prisoners to again be eligible for parole after they had served 25% of their sentence.

A unique feature of SB 2136 was that it was applied retroactively in order to have an immediate impact on the prison population and to ensure equity in the sentencing process.

About 3,000 inmates or 12% of the total population had already met their time-served requirement and were immediately eligible for parole consideration."

She is determined to reduce the traffic in contraband, which contributes to corruption in the prisons, including among the guards and staff.

As a result of a five-year statewide investigation known as Operation Mississippi Hustle, in November 2014 the federal Department of Justice announced indictments of former Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps (who resigned the day before) and Cecil B. McCrory, a businessman and former Republican state legislator, on 49 counts of corruption, bribery and kickbacks.

This includes millions paid in bribes related to awarding of state contracts, drugs and other contraband being smuggled into facilities by the guards, sex between staff and inmates, and other abuses.

Defendants include consultant and businessman Robert Simmons, who was sentenced to 87 months; former mayor of Walnut Grove, Mayor William Grady Sims, who was prosecuted earlier and sentenced to 7 months; former legislator and Republican businessman Sam Waggoner, former Harrison County Supervisor William Martin, who committed suicide before arraignment; former Alcorn County warden and Democratic state Senator Irb Benjamin, Dr. Carl Reddix, Terese Malone, Mark Longoria, and Guy "Butch" Evans.

On February 8, 2017, Mississippi Attorney General, Democrat Jim Hood, announced he had filed civil cases against 15 corporations (including those that had operated Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility and had provided other services to prisons) and numerous individuals who had engaged in contracts with the MDOC and Epps, seeking damages and punitive damages.

We are also seeking punitive damages to punish these conspirators and to deter those who might consider giving or receiving kickbacks in the future."

Besides Teresa Malone and Carl Reddix, the defendants included Michael Reddix; Andrew Jenkins; Management & Training Corporation; The GEO Group, Inc.; Cornell Companies, Inc.; Wexford Health Sources, Inc.; The Bantry Group Corporation; AdminPros, L.L.C.

and AJA Management & Technical Services, Inc.[12]In March 2017, Pelicia E. Hall was appointed by Governor Phil Bryant as Commissioner; she is the first woman to hold this position.

[23] Previously, MDOC contracted with Wexford Health Sources, Inc.,[24] headquartered in Green Tree, Pennsylvania,[25][26] near Pittsburgh.

[27] Previously MDOC contracted with Correctional Medical Services (CMS),[28] headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri,[29][30] near St.

The commissioner at the time, Chris Epps, argued that the possibility of creating single parents and the expenses were the reasons why conjugal visits ended.

African Americans are incarcerated at a rate three times that of whites in the state but could be helped by good education from a young age.

Mississippi measures its recidivism differently: whether a person released from prison is convicted of another crime and imprisoned within three years.

[37] Its parolees have had considerable success after the state officials adopted a risk assessment instrument in 2009, to evaluate which candidates for parole under a new law designed to reduce the prison population of persons convicted of non-violent crime.

[47] MDOC decided to start its own "Be Smart Choose Freedom" campaign and use the commercials that aired in New Jersey.