Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has given the state until July 17 to respond to a lawsuit that challenges conditions at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility near Meridian in Lauderdale County.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections was sued in May over what the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center called "barbaric" conditions at the prison.

Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps says in a news release Thursday that he is working with the current operator of the prison to respond to the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Jackson.

The current operator, Management and Training Corp., based in Centerville, Utah, is not a party to the lawsuit. MTC became operator of the prison in July of 2012, replacing The GEO Group Inc.

The prison has a capacity of 1,362 inmates.