[4] Originally a judge could order child to attend a training school for minor offenses, up to and, including felony charges.
Male juveniles who engage in serious or repeat behaviors and are certified as adults may be asked to go to the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, a privately operated facility of the Mississippi Department of Corrections in Walnut Grove, Mississippi.
[5] David M. Halfbinger of The New York Times said in 2003 that the MDHS juvenile correctional facilities "look more like rural community colleges -- low-slung, cinder-block buildings scattered across sun-baked meadows, ringed by chain-link fencing -- than the prisons they effectively are.
"[6] In early 2020, the state auditor's office arrested John Davis, the former director of the agency and a number of others in what was described as a widespread fraud scheme that diverted aid for the poor into personal profit.
[16] The state closed Columbia because of a desire to save money and concerns about the operation of the facility.