Central Mississippi Correctional Facility

Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
Map
Location3794 MS-468
unincorporated Rankin County, Mississippi
Pearl address
StatusOpen
Security classMixed
Capacity3,557
Opened1986
Managed byMississippi Department of Corrections

The Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) is a Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison for men and women located in an unincorporated area in Rankin County, Mississippi, United States,[1] between the cities of Pearl and Brandon.[2][3] The 171-acre (69 ha) prison was, for a period of time, the only state prison to hold female prisoners in Mississippi, in addition to minimum and medium security male offenders. It operates as the female death row of the state.[2]

The prison is in proximity to the state capital of Jackson.[4]

The prison houses the Receiving and Classification Unit (R&C), where most prisoners entering the MDOC system are held before going to their permanent unit assignments.[2] Most male inmates who are sentenced to MDOC by the courts or who are returned to MDOC as parole violators, probation violators, intensive supervision program (ISP) violators, earned release supervision (ERS) violators, and suspension violators are placed at R&C. All women inmates who are sentenced to MDOC by the courts or who are returned to MDOC as parole violators, probation violators, ISP violators, ERS violators, and suspension violators are placed in 1A or 2B at CMCF.[5] Male death row inmates do not go to CMCF; they are transferred from county jails and immediately go to the Mississippi State Penitentiary, the location of the male death row.[6]

MDOC states that CMCF was "designed to provide aesthetics along with security."[7]

On February 19, 2024, The Washington Post reported that a former inmate, Susie Balfour, had filed a lawsuit alleging that she had developed breast cancer as a consequence of working with carcinogens without proper protective equipment, and that the facility had refused to provide her with proper treatment for her cancer. When she was released she sought treatment and discovered her cancer was Stage 4, and was terminal.

  1. ^ "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Rankin County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 12 (PDF p. 13/23). Retrieved 2022-08-12. Central Mississippi Corr Faclty
  2. ^ a b c "State Prisons Archived 2002-12-06 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Department of Corrections; retrieved May 21, 2010. "3794 Hwy 468 Pearl, MS 39208"
  3. ^ "MDOC QUICK REFERENCE." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010. "3794 Hwy 468 - Pearl, MS 39208"
  4. ^ "GARRISON COULD BE BACK IN JAIL SOON." Biloxi Sun-Herald. February 15, 1995. C2 Coast and State. Retrieved on September 24, 2011. "[...]days for her return to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Brandon." and "[...]County jail to the central Mississippi prison near Jackson in mid- 1994."
  5. ^ "Chapter I." Inmate Handbook. Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
  6. ^ "Where do new inmates go when first moved from the local county jail to MDOC custody?" Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.
  7. ^ "011.jpg." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 18, 2010.