Ellington

• Sign in to favorite this
• Discuss Comment, Blog about
• Share this Email, Facebook, Twitter

The Mississippi Department of Corrections plans to use the former Walnut Grove Correctional Facility site for other purposes, like alternative or re-entry programs, a press release from the department says.

Commissioner Marshall Fisher has mentioned the mental health of inmates as a pressing concern in his department at government http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/sep/14/narrowing-private-vs-public-prison-debate/">working group meetings this month and MDOC has formed a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.

“We do not intend for the Walnut Grove site to go unused,” Fisher said in the press release. “Just as we have formed a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health to assist us in supervising mentally ill inmates both inside and outside prison, we are strongly pursuing other ways to help inmates re-enter their communities in a meaningful way and remain out of prison.”

MDOC is refocusing its resources on rehabilitation, a press release from the department says. There are 3,194 inmates reported to have mental health diagnoses and about 15,000 reporting substance abuse, including drug and alcohol use.

The former prison could be used as a technical violation center, which was created under the comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation in 2014 as an alternative to incarceration. MDOC currently operates three such centers in Rankin, Leflore, and Simpson counties.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/sep/15/walnut-grove-prison-officially-closed/">Walnut Grove closed late last week when MDOC moved the last prisoners to the state-run facilities. MDOC announced the closure on June 10, before the U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced that it would be phasing out its use of private prisons.

“MDOC’s decision to close Walnut Grove is in no way connected to the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision nor is the closure the result of any advocacy group’s ‘victory’,” Fisher said in the press release. “When the prison closed, significant improvements had been made under Management & Training Corporation, and juvenile offenders were no longer being housed there. We believe enough significant improvements had been made that the consent decree providing oversight was no longer needed.”