Justice Department finds problems with violence, gangs and poor conditions in 3 Mississippi prisons

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department says Mississippi is failing to protect inmates in three prisons from violence because it does not adequately supervise incarcerated people, control contraband or investigate harm and misconduct. The department released its report Wednesday about Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, South Mississippi Correctional Institution and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility. The department says short staffing is a problem, and gangs inside the prisons are using violence to control people and move contraband items. The department found similar problems two years ago at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Kristen Clarke, says people do not surrender their constitutional rights at the jailhouse door.