Walnut Grove Correctional Facility

Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, formerly the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, is a private prison operated by the Management and Training Corporation (MTC)[1] on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, located in Walnut Grove, Mississippi. It has been accredited twice by the American Correctional Association, most recently in 2012, and has a capacity of 1,461 prisoners.[2][3]

From 2003 to 2010, the prison was operated by Cornell Companies as a facility for youthful offenders; the company merged with GEO Group in 2010. GEO operated the facility until April 2012; it housed juvenile prisoners who had been convicted of felonies and sentenced as adults.[4] Two-thirds of the prisoners had been convicted of non-violent offenses. The Walnut Grove Development Authority, an entity administered by the town of Walnut Grove, owned the property,[2] which the town had annexed in the early 21st century.[5]

Following a 2012 settlement of a 2010 class action suit against the facility's staff and management, and the state, for abuses and neglect of prisoners, youthful offenders were transferred to a state facility to be operated to juvenile justice standards. In addition, the state is prohibited by the court decree from subjecting any youthful offender to solitary confinement, the first time a federal court has so ruled. Walnut Grove has since been operated as an adult facility, and is under regular oversight by a court monitor to ensure conditions are improved.

In 2013 a class action suit was filed against the state and the private prison company because of conditions at East Mississippi Correctional Facility, where mentally ill prisoners are held and treated. In addition, Federal investigation of conditions in the Mississippi state prison system has continued. In November 2015, Christopher Epps resigned as commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, which he had headed since 2002; he was one of the most experienced prison administrators nationally.[6] He and a former state legislator were indicted on 49 federal counts of bribery and kickbacks related to private companies operating in prisons. In 2015 both men made pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing under their plea agreements.

History

The prison opened in March 2001, located in unincorporated Leake County, Mississippi. It was an all-male youth correctional facility for all levels of custody with a capacity of 1,500 prisoners.[2][7][8] The City of Walnut Grove annexed the facility between 2000 and 2006, causing the apparent city population to increase from 488 to 1,424.[8] In 2011 the prisoners outnumbered city residents by a 2 to 1 ratio.

In 2001 321 prisoners were held at the facility; all were of 18 years of age and younger.[9]

Cornell Companies received the contract to operate the prison in September 2003.[7] The number of prisoners at the facility increased but was not accompanied by appropriate staffing. In addition, prisoners were aging; by 2006 prisoners up to age 21 were housed there. Older prisoners in their early 20s were added during expansion of the population. A state audit in 2005 showed the guard to prisoner ratio was 1 to 60, contributing to the rate of violence and abuses. According to the Council for Juvenile Correctional Administrators, a ratio of 1 to 10 or 12 is more common.[10]

Between the prison's opening and 2006, the town of Walnut Grove annexed the prison, causing the city's population to increase dramatically.[8] As of 2006 the prison housed 950 prisoners ages 12 to 21.[11] The city received payment in lieu of taxes from the prison corporation, monies that made up 15% of its annual budget.[10] In 2009, William Grady Sims, longtime mayor of Walnut Grove since 1981, was appointed as warden of the prison. He also made money independently, from the revenues of the 18 vending machines he had placed at the prison.[10] The prison's 200 guard jobs helped employ townspeople who had been laid off by closure of a garment manufacturing plant.[10]

By 2009 the prison had 1,225 prisoners. Its prisoner base had aged and the state had also assigned older prisoners there.[9] Cornell Companies operated the prison until August 12, 2010, when it was bought by GEO Group.[12]

In November 2010 plaintiffs represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU National Prison Project filed a federal class-action lawsuit against GEO and the state agencies that operate and own the facility, saying that the prison authorities allowed abuses and negligence to occur at the facility.[5] The lawsuit states that prison guards engaged in sexual intercourse with the prisoners, tolerated and encouraged violence, and smuggled illegal drugs into the facilities, and that prison authorities denied education and medical care. As of that month the prison has about 1,200 prisoners ages 13–22; the lawsuit says that half of the prisoners are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses.[13]

Weeks prior to the filing of the lawsuit, United States Department of Justice officials informed Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour that the department had started an investigation concerning the prison.[14] In addition to learning about prisoner abuses, investigators found that prison officials were being paid bonuses from federal funds for "administering" education in the prison.[10] That is being reviewed separately by the Office of the Inspector General at the US Department of Education.[10]

Settlement and aftermath

GEO and the state settled the lawsuit in February 2012. Under the court decree, the state agreed to move the remaining youths from the prison to more suitable locations that conform to juvenile standards.[15] Under federal court order, the state established a youthful offender unit at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County, for prisoners of 17 and under, and 18 and 19-year-olds considered vulnerable.

William Grady Sims, eight-term mayor of Walnut Grove and warden of the correctional facility since 2009, resigned from the prison in 2010. He was forced to resign as mayor as part of a 2012 federal plea agreement, after pleading guilty to witness tampering. He had been also charged with sexual assault for removing a female inmate to a motel for sex in 2009; he pressured her to lie about the event to investigators.[16] Facing up to 20 years in Federal prison for the combined charges, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven months in prison, six months of home confinement, and two years of supervised release for federal witness tampering.[17]

On April 20, 2012, the State of Mississippi announced that it would end its contracts with the GEO Group. GEO cited the "financially underperforming" character of the facility as its reason for discontinuing management.[4] Press reports showed that GEO Group had been investigated and strongly criticized during its management of the facility, failing to correct problems even after investigation started in relation to the suit. Shortly before the end of GEO's contract, the United States Department of Justice had accused the facility of "systematic, egregious, and dangerous practices exacerbated by a lack of accountability and controls", and stated that sexual misconduct there was "among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation".[18][19]

A Mississippi federal judge who heard the suit described the prison to the ACLU as "a picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world", citing the fact that GEO had "been derelict in their duties and remain[ed] deliberately indifferent to the serious medical and mental health needs of the offenders."[20] In compliance with the court decree, the State of Mississippi transferred the youngest Walnut Grove prisoners to a state-operated juvenile facility established as a freestanding unit at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.[21] The Walnut Grove Corrections Facility, now used only for adults, remains under court oversight, with a monitor providing regular reports on conditions.

The Department of Justice has continued with investigations of conditions and practices in the Mississippi state prison system in both privately operated and state facilities. These have been noted for "squalid conditions and violence by guards and inmates."[6] In May 2013 the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU filed a class action suit against the state correctional system on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, established to hold and treat prisoners with mental illness.[22] In November 2014, Christopher Epps resigned; he had been Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections since 2002.[6]

In May 2013, a series of articles in Mother Jones magazine described Walnut Grove as one of the ten worst prisons in the United States. The article did not include any response from the facility or the state.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mississippi Corrections." Management and Training Corporation. Retrieved on March 23, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Five Private Prisons." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on November 21, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Walnut Grove Correctional Facility" (PDF). Management and Training Corporation. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  4. 1 2 Burnett, John. "Miss. Prison Operator Out; Facility Called A 'Cesspool'". NPR.org. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 Byrd, Sheila. "Suit attacks conditions at Miss. juvenile lockup." Associated Press, at The Washington Post. November 16, 2010. 1. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 Timothy Williams, "Chief Quits as Mississippi Prisons Face Inquiry", New York Times, 5 November 2014, accessed 30 January 2016
  7. 1 2 "Re: Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 "Walnut Grove" (Archive). First Impressions. Mississippi State University, February 2008. 0 (3/21). Retrieved on August 14, 2010. "Looking at the MDA profile, the population growth is impressive (year 2000 – 488, year 2006 – 1,424). However, we learned that most of this population growth has been due to the location and annexation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility."
  9. 1 2 Mitchell, Jerry. "YOUTH CENTER POPULATION AGING." The Clarion Ledger. August 2, 2009. Main A1. Retrieved on November 22, 2010. "Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility held 321 offenders in 2001 none of them older than 18. It has since swelled to 1225 holding offenders until theyre"
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burnett, John (March 25, 2011). "Town Relies On Troubled Youth Prison For Profits". NPR.
  11. ↑ Hipp, Laura. "Inmates get jobs in pilot program." The Clarion Ledger. December 25, 2006. Main A1. Retrieved on November 22, 2010. "The Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility houses 950 offenders between the ages of 12 and 21. "
  12. ↑ Paez, Pablo E. (2010-08-12). "The GEO Group Closes $730 Million Merger with Cornell Companies" (Press release). Boca Raton, Florida: GEO Group. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  13. ↑ Byrd, Sheila. "Lawsuit attacks ‘barbaric’ conditions at state youth prison." Associated Press at the Sun Herald. Saturday November 20, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
  14. ↑ Mitchell, Jerry. "Private prison firm sued." The Clarion Ledger. November 17, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
  15. ↑ Mohr, Holbrook "Groups Say Deal Reached in Juvenile Prison Suit," Associated Press at the Sun Herald. Monday February 27, 2012. Retrieved on February 28, 2012.
  16. ↑ Gates, Jimmy E. "Former Walnut Grove Mayor Pleads Guilty In Inmate Sex Case." The Clarion Ledger. Tuesday February 14, 2012. Retrieved on February 28, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Former Mayor of Walnut Grove Sentenced for Federal Witness Tampering". U.S. Attorney's Office. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  18. ↑ "Re: Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility" (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. Retrieved 3 March 2013. (Archive)
  19. ↑ Myers, Rachel. "ACLU Sets Record Straight on Chronology of GEO's Mississippi For-Profit Youth Prison". commondreams.org. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "CHARLESTON DEPRIEST" (PDF). aclu.org. Retrieved 3 March 2013. (Archive)
  21. 1 2 Ridgeway, James and Jean Casella. "America's 10 Worst Prisons: Walnut Grove." Mother Jones. Monday May 13, 2013. Retrieved on April 19, 2014.
  22. ↑ Dockery et al. v. Christopher Epps, et al., ACLU website, 30 May 2013

External links

Coordinates: 32°34′57″N 89°26′45″W / 32.58250°N 89.44583°W / 32.58250; -89.44583

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