Wilkinson County Correctional Facility
| Location | 2999 US-61 Woodville, Mississippi |
|---|---|
| Status | open |
| Security class | mixed |
| Capacity | 900 |
| Opened | 1998 |
| Managed by | Management and Training Corporation (since 2013) |
Wilkinson County Correctional Center (WCCC) is a private prison in unincorporated Wilkinson County, Mississippi, managed since July 2013 by Management and Training Corporation (MTC) on a five-year contract with the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Established as a low to medium-security prison, it was converted to a maximum-security prison when prisoners were transferred in 2010 from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. It has struggled since then with increasing levels of violence and murders of inmates. The prison facility has an authorized capacity of 900; it occupies 17.5 acres (7.1 ha) of enclosed area. The prison property is in total 97.5 acres (39.5 ha). As of November 2016, it is one of four private prisons under contract to the state of Mississippi. A fifth, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, closed in September 2016.
State contracts with MTC and the previous operator, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), have been under investigation in what is known as Operation Mississippi Hustle, a wide-ranging corruption case investigated by the FBI. Former Commissioner Chris Epps was indicted in November 2014 (the day after he resigned), as was Cecil McCrory, a consultant and former state legislator. Both pleaded guilty in February 2015 and have cooperated with investigators. Numerous other figures have been indicted; some have pleaded guilty and others convicted at trial. In February 2017, Mississippi State Attorney announced a civil suit against the private prison operators and numerous other contractors, for damages and punitive damages.
The private prison opened in January 1998. The low to medium-security prison was originally managed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, now CoreCivic). The state and county authorized construction of the prison in this location in the expectation that persons living in the Woodville area would be able to find jobs there.
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