It has housed inmates from Wisconsin, Colorado, Hawaii, Wyoming, Vermont, and California, in addition to prisoners from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Former Commissioner Chris Epps was indicted in November 2014 (the day after he resigned), as was Cecil McCrory, a consultant, contractor and former state legislator.

Longstanding poverty in this rural community meant that many residents had to rely on charity from Christian organizations.

Around 1998 the leaders of the Town of Tutwiler decided to permit construction of a private prison in their jurisdiction, hoping it would provide jobs to area residents.

The State of Mississippi and Tallahatchie County paid half of the cost to train correctional officers for the new prison, in order to support improving the local economy.

James T. Kilborn of The New York Times said that when the Tallahatchie facility opened in 2000 with 351 prisoners, including 322 from Wisconsin, it "seemed the salvation of" Tutwiler.

[7] Some area residents quit their jobs and began working as Correctional Officers at the facility.

[7] Before the reduction, in 2001 the prison had paid $600,000 annually to the county in property taxes and $5,350 per month to the town for water.

[9] In May 2004 36 prisoners were moved from the Guadalupe County Adult Detention Center in Seguin, Texas to TCCF; they had been identified as gang leaders.

During that month the Mississippi Department of Corrections signed a contract to house 128 maximum-security prisoners at TCCF.

They said that "CCA has not spent as much of its revenue on the Mississippi Delta economy as local leaders had hoped.

"[4] Chris Epps resigned as Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) in early November 2014.

The next day he was indicted by the US Attorney of the Southern District of Mississippi, together with consultant and former state legislator Cecil McCrory, on 49 counts in a corruption scheme related to contracts that Epps steered to particular companies.

In February 2015 both men pleaded guilty in plea bargains and cooperated with FBI investigators in a far-reaching case known as Operation Mississippi Hustle.

The unfolding nature of the case and trials of other figures delayed sentencing for Epps, now scheduled for late May 2017.