PARCHAMN, Miss.–The Mississippi Dept. of Corrections is still 500 employees short of what it needs to be compliant with Dept. of Justice requirements, despite having gained nearly 500 correctional officers and workers in related jobs. Commissioner Burl Cain and staff went before the state Senate Approp[riations Committee Tuesday, to ask for increases to their budget.
Cain said his department has spent more than $73 million renovating the state prison at Parchman since he took over as commissioner to make it more safe and secure.
“That’s renovating all the different things that we’ve renovated, including death row, which we have finished that. It will be occupied Feb. 15,” he told the Committee.
Cain said the improvements have made that unit more secure.
“It’s 56 beds. It cost %14 million to build or rebuild. It’s pretty much a state-of-the-art death row now,” he said.
Corrections is also upgrading locks and security systems throughout the entire department and upgrading its fleet of vehicles.
Another challenge that the department faces is the rising cost of food and supplies. Still another challenge is maintenance. Inmates break and destroy property and the department is required to fix what is broken.
Cain said he is also working hard to cut down on the number of gang members in the state prison system and plans to have legislation introduced and he hopes passed, to be able to provide jobs for each person in prison to keep them occupied.
“Our goal is within three years to not have a gang issue,” he said.
Cain said the number of gang members has been reduced from more than 5,000 to just over 1,300 people involved.