The Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, formerly the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (WGYCF), is a state prison in Walnut Grove, Mississippi. It was formerly operated as a for-profit state-owned prison from 1996 to 2016. Constructed beginning in 1990, it was expanded in 2001 and later, holding male youth offenders. It had an eventual capacity of 1,649 prisoners, making it the largest juvenile facility in the country. Contracts for the facility's operations and services were among those investigated by the FBI in its lengthy investigation of state corruption known as Operation Mississippi Hustle.
The prison was one of six for which the state had contracts in the early 21st century with for-profit prison operators; this facility had a record of management problems. A 2010 federal prisoner class-action suit was filed over poor conditions and mistreatment here; it was settled in 2012. Settlement required immediate transfer of youth offenders to a state-run facility meeting juvenile justice standards. The court decree prohibited the state from subjecting any youthful offender to solitary confinement, the first time a federal court had so ruled. In addition, the state changed the mission of WGCF to hold adult prisoners only. The prison had been accredited twice by the American Correctional Association, most recently in 2012.Five Private Prisons." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on November 21, 2010.
MDOC terminated its contract with GEO Group, replacing it in 2012 with a 10-year contract with another for-profit operator, Management and Training Corporation (MTC), based in Utah."Mississippi Corrections ." Management and Training Corporation. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. MTC's contract included operation of two other private prisons previously operated by GEO Group. This facility continued to be overseen by a court monitor; oversight was extended by the court after two riots occurred at the prison in 2014. The state closed the prison in September 2016 and is considering its adaptation for other purposes.
From 2003 to 2010, the prison was operated for the state by Cornell Companies as a facility for youthful offenders. In 2010 Cornell was acquired by the GEO Group. GEO operated the facility, which housed juvenile prisoners convicted of felonies and sentenced as adults. Two-thirds of the prisoners had been convicted of non-violent offenses.Byrd, Sheila. "Suit attacks conditions at Miss. juvenile lockup." Associated Press, The Washington Post. November 16, 2010. 1. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
In October 2010, the Department of Justice announced an investigation by the Civil Rights Division into conditions at WGYCF. A separate FBI investigation was started later into the Mississippi prison system related to contracts; extensive corruption was found. As a result of the latter investigation, in November 2014 Christopher Epps resigned as commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), which he had headed since 2002. The next day he and businessman Cecil B. McCrory, a former state legislator, were indicted on 49 federal counts of bribery and receiving kickbacks from for-profit companies operating and serving Mississippi prisons. In 2015, both men pleaded guilty; they assisted the investigation, under which numerous additional indictments and convictions have been achieved. In early 2017, McCrory was sentenced to years in federal prison. Epps was sentenced in May 2017 to nearly 20 years in prison; he had previously been indicted for receiving $1.47 million in bribes and kickbacks.ex-MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps, wife must pay $69,489 in state taxes, The Clarion-Ledger, Jimmie E. Gates, May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 22, 2020. In February 2017 the Mississippi State Attorney announced a civil suit against MTC, GEO Group and 13 other contractors and several individuals, seeking damages and punitive damages related to contracts made by figures convicted in the corruption case.
As of 2016, the state owes $121 million in bonded indebtedness for the construction and subsequent expansions of the Walnut Grove correctional facility. The MDOC has an "absolute and unconditional" obligation to pay that debt."Municipal prison bonds turn to junk as inmate population falls", Bloomberg News, Amanda Albright and Darrell Preston, October 3, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
History In the late 20th century, the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) began to contract with private companies to build and operate prisons in the state to meet rising demand, in part due to changes in sentencing guidelines. The first was opened in 1996. "By 2013, the system had four private prisons and the nation's second-highest incarceration rate."Richard Fausset, "Indictment of Ex-Official Raises Questions on Mississippi’s Private Prisons", New York Times, November 16, 2014; accessed March 9, 2017 (Note: Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility was also still open in 2013, but it did not hold any Mississippi prisoners. CCA operated the facility under contracts to other states.)
Counties and towns had vied to attract the private prisons, in hopes of stimulating economic development and providing jobs in rural areas.
Cornell Companies expanded the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (WGYCF), which originally opened in March 2001 under a different operator. It was located in unincorporated Leake County, Mississippi, on land owned by the Walnut Grove Development Authority; this entity was administered by the town of Walnut Grove. The prison was designed as an all-male, youth correctional facility for all levels of custody, with an initial capacity of 321 prisoners.
In the same period, the state also contracted for private management of five other prisons.
In 2001, 321 prisoners were held at the WGYCF; all were 18 years of age or younger.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 they're 21." Within several years, the state agreed to a contract to expand the facility and it housed more than 1,000 prisoners by 2009. In total, including the costs of its expansions, the Walnut Grove Correctional facility was the most costly private prison in the state, according to the Jackson Free Press.
Cornell Companies was awarded the state contract to operate the prison in September 2003. It also received contracts to operate East Mississippi Correctional Facility, intended to provide intensive treatment for prisoners who were mentally ill, and Marshall County Correctional Facility.
Although the state increased the number of prisoners held at WGYCF, Cornell Companies did not adjust staffing appropriately. A state audit in 2005 showed the guard to prisoner ratio was 1 to 60, which was believed to contribute to the high rate of violence and abuses reported there. According to the Council for Juvenile Correctional Administrators, a ratio of 1 to 10 or 12 is more common. In addition, prisoners were aging; by 2006 prisoners up to age 21 were housed there to complete sentences. The state assigned older prisoners in their early 20s to WGYCF following expansion of the prison to increase its capacity. These changes made conditions more harsh for the younger inmates.
By 2006, the town of Walnut Grove annexed the prison site, resulting in an apparent, and dramatic, increase in the city's population, from 488 to 1,424."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." As of 2006 the prison housed 950 prisoners ages 12 to 21.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. " The 200 prison guard jobs helped employ townspeople who had been laid off by closure of a local garment manufacturing plant. Walnut Grove received payment in lieu of taxes from the prison corporation; these monies made up 15% of its annual budget.
In 2009, William Grady Sims, mayor of Walnut Grove since 1981, was appointed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections as director of the independent Walnut Grove Transition Center, despite his lack of any correctional facility experience. This halfway house for up to 150 prisoners, both male and female, was set up in buildings that MDOC leased from Cecil McCrory, a businessman, consultant to numerous prison management and related companies, and former state legislator. The MODC operated the transition center directly with its own staff. Sims also profited from the revenues of the 18 vending machines he had installed at the youth prison.
By 2009, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility had 1,225 prisoners. Cornell Companies operated the prison until August 12, 2010, when Cornell was bought by GEO Group, based in Florida. Mental and medical health services were provided by Health Assurance, and additional contractors provided food services, etc.
In October 2010, United States Department of Justice officials informed Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour that the department had started a civil rights investigation concerning the prison, in relation to its treatment of prisoners, to assess whether constitutional standards of prisoner safety and humane treatment were being maintained.Mitchell, Jerry. "Private prison firm sued." The Clarion Ledger. November 17, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
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 (which had acquired Cornell and taken over its contracts in Mississippi and elsewhere) and MDOC, saying that the prison authorities allowed abuses and negligence to occur at WGYCF. The lawsuit stated that prison guards engaged in sexual intercourse with the prisoners, tolerated and encouraged violence, smuggled illegal drugs into the facilities, and that prison authorities denied required education and sufficient medical care. As of that month the prison had about 1,200 prisoners ages 13–22; the lawsuit said that half of the prisoners were incarcerated for non-violent offenses.Byrd, Sheila. (Associated Press) "Lawsuit attacks ‘barbaric’ conditions at state youth prison", Sun Herald, November 20, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010. By 2011 prisoners outnumbered Walnut Grove city residents by a 2:1 ratio. Two thirds of the prisoners had been convicted of non-violent offenses.
DOJ report - March 2012 The Justice Department Civil Rights Division delivered its March 20, 2012, report directly to the governor's office and the court. It said that conditions at WGCF were "among the worst we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation," characterizing both GEO and the MDOC's lassitude as ignoring the safety of young inmates, allowing a denial of required health care, and hiring guards who were known to have gang affiliations. Press reports indicated the jail was run by gangs whose members included corrupt prison staff. The US Justice Department said that rapes of younger inmates were common.
The DOJ report said that the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility had "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".()
Settlement and aftermath