Leake County Correctional Facility: Everything You Need To Know About Leake County
This article discussed Leake County Correctional Facility: Everything You Need To Know About Leake County Correctional Facility.
Leake County Correctional Facility is a mixed-custody regional correctional facility for housing male and female inmates. It is located in Carthage, a city in Leake County, Mississippi, United States.
The Leake County Correctional Facility consists of five different levels of accommodations dedicated to three different security levels from minimum to maximum security. Moreover, the correctional center houses state inmates as well as pre-trial detainees. Currently, the facility has a maximum capacity to accommodate 460 adult males and females. Offenders are kept in multiple occupancy dorms, with single and double bunk cells depending on the security requirements of the inmate.
The Leake County Correctional Facility also holds inmates that are on death row. These inmates are limited to their cells 23 hours a day and only get an hour to leave their cell and get some exercise and open air. Offenders that do not have good behavior or fail to follow rules are put in a quarantined medium block.
The Leake County Correctional Facility is operated under The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), a state agency of Mississippi responsible for operating prisons. Its headquarters are in Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. The facility is located beside the sheriff’s office in Leake County and faces McMillan Park.
In 1843, Mississippi's first state prison was developed as a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jackson. This prison in Jackson ended up being destroyed during the Civil War, and for decades, it remained unreplaced by the state. Instead, the state adopted convict leasing, in which it began leasing prisoners to third parties for their labor.
The lessees had full custody of the inmates and provided them with room and board, which were often substandard. This arrangement was used to extract labor from former slaves and keep them suppressed socially.
Eventually, the state began criminalizing minor infractions so more people could be arrested and used as free labor. As a result, huge sums of money were made from these arrangements, but this also resulted in a huge pool of prisoners that couldn’t be leased out, as many could not raise enough cash to pay fines or fees of the lease.
The state officially ceased convict leasing at the end of the 19th century, establishing that prisoners sentenced by the State could no longer be hired or leased by third parties. The new policy was effective after 31st December 1894. After ending the convict leasing system, the State of Mississippi started acquiring properties where prisons could be built. This started the establishment of state prisons around Mississippi and The Leake County Correctional Facility was opened on 15th October 1998.
Rehabilitation facilities at Leake County Correctional Facility
Inmates at Leake County Correctional Facility are encouraged to take classes for adult literacy, and adult basic education, and obtain their GED while serving their sentence. Vocational training is provided to inmates in computer skills and carpentry. The facility provides short-term treatments for alcohol and drug abusers, including individual counseling, pre-release counseling, and substance abuse treatment.
Inmates at the Leake County Correctional Facility are provided with recreational activities that include volleyball, basketball, cards, and board games. Like many other state prisons in Mississippi, Leake County had an employment program in which prisoners, often referred to as trustees, would get reductions in their sentences in exchange for working for local and county government authorities. This program ceased on April 30, 2015, when the Mississippi Department of Corrections announced that they would be saving $3.2 million per year with the program removed.
How to search inmates in the Leake County Correctional Facility?
When an inmate is incarcerated at the Leake County Correctional Facility, their information is subsequently added to MDOC’s database as the Leake County Correctional Facility is operated by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. For those who are seeking information about an inmate incarcerated at the Leake County Correctional Facility, first and foremost, what they need to know are the inmate's first and last name, and ID number. Upon incarceration, inmates at Leake County Correctional Facility are assigned unique ID numbers which are key when looking for an inmate.
To find any information on a particular inmate, head over to and browse the Leake County Correctional Facility’s database by providing the inmate's first name, last name, and ID number. Other than using the website, you can also call the Leake County Correctional Facility visitor Information Line at (601)-298-9003. Upon the receipt of the correct credentials, the facility will disclose information about the inmate, which may be about their prison account, visiting hours, or other prison policies and regulations.
Inmates at the Leake County Correctional Facility are classified into different security levels. The visiting hours of different security levels are different. Moreover, the visiting schedule rotates according to the first letter of the offender’s last name. To confirm the timing a particular inmate is allowed to receive visits, always call the facility beforehand and make an appointment.
What types of facilities is available at the Leake County Correctional Facility?
The Leake County Correctional Facility has to make sure a variety of facilities are available to prisoners as inmates belong to various security levels. Following are some of the major facilities available at the Leake County Correctional Facility.
- Educational Programs: All inmates have access to educational programs and are encouraged to take part in the study of literacy (Adult Basic Education/GED preparation and test), basic computer education, and intermediate computer education.
- Career and Technology Programs: The facility provides work opportunities to prisoners so they can keep themselves busy and where they can learn while working. Some of these programs include computer-related jobs and carpentry.
- Medical Capabilities: Leake County Correctional Facility has medical assistance available for all inmates. MDOC has a contract with Centurion of Mississippi, LLC, a leading provider of correctional healthcare in the U.S. MDOC also has a contract with Wexford Health Sources, Inc. which has its headquarters in Green Tree, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Wexford provides medical services to inmates at state-operated facilities in Mississippi. The system's chief medical officer is Gloria Perry who has been in this position since 2008 and is certified in family practice.
- Additional Programs/Services: Inmates may take part in programs relating to discipleship, keyboarding, and pre-release. Inmates are also provided with religious facilities, which include chaplaincy services, bible readings, etc.
- Community Work Projects: No community work projects are provided to inmates at Leake County Correctional Facility because many of them are maximum security or medium security, prisoners. Some of these prisoners aren’t allowed to leave their cells, let alone the facility for participating in community work projects.
- Volunteer Initiatives: Inmates at Leake County Correctional Facility are encouraged and invited to take part in programs that offer employment/job skills, substance abuse education, life skills, support groups, religious, and faith-based studies. These activities are arranged by inmates for inmates and are inclusive of certain security levels.
Is the Leake County Correctional Facility dangerous?
Leake County Correctional Facility has been an ACA-accredited unit since December 1999. Since then, it has received multiple accreditations. The facility was re-accredited by American Correctional Association (ACA) again in May 2003, and then once more in August 2007. Other than ACA, the facility earned another accreditation in 2007. It was next re-accredited in February 2012 and then in February 2015.
The ACA accreditation alone is a very strict and long process that assesses every aspect of the facility. Considering it has been accredited more than once by ACA means it follows the discipline necessary when holding mixed-custody inmates in a single facility. The facility has also been accredited by authorities other than ACA, affirming the results published by ACA.
Although many dangerous offenders are brought here, the strict policy in place assures that human rights are not violated and every inmate gets a fair chance at redemption. Inmates are segregated according to their security level which is done to ensure infighting and violence do not occur among the prisoners. In general, Leake County isn’t considered a very dangerous facility as it aims toward helping and correcting inmates.
Visiting Hours of Leake County Correctional Facility
Inmates at Leake County Correctional Facility can initiate the visitation application process by sending the Application for Visiting Privileges to family, friends, or other persons they wish to see. The visitors are required to complete the application and mail it to the MDOC address. If the prospective visitor is a minor, their guardian can complete the application in their stead.
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Offenders at Leake County Correctional Facility are allowed up to six visitors per visit. Visiting hours for inmates at Leake County are determined by the inmate's assigned dorm and the first letter of the inmate's last name. Inmates with a last name A through L can receive visits from 8:30 am to 11:30 am, whereas inmates with a last name M through Z can receive visits from 12 pm to 3 pm. MDOC declares visits as a privilege for both the visitor and the inmate and not a right. As such, this privilege may be revoked for many reasons.
Visiting days for inmates housed in different dormitories are as follows.
- For Dorm B-11, C-26, and C-27: first Saturday and third Sunday of each month
- For Dorm C-30 and C-31: second Saturday and fourth Sunday of each month
- For Dorm C-34 and C-35: third Saturday and first Sunday of each month
- For Dorm C-11, C-38, and C-39: fourth Saturday and second Sunday of each month
Similarly, last names also determine when an inmate can receive visits.
- Inmates with a last name starting from A to L can receive visits on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
- Inmates with the last name M to Z can receive visits on the first and third Sundays of the month.
All female inmates can receive visitors on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. The visiting hours for all county inmates are from 3:30 pm to 5 pm.
All visitors are asked to present proper photographic identification and sign the visitor’s sign-in log. They are required to properly identify themselves with Visitor ID cards, passports, driver’s licenses, military or state IDs, or something of the sort. Any item the visitors bring to the prison must be kept in their cars and the cars must then be locked. Visitors cannot carry anything out of the prison other than what they brought.