Delta Correctional Facility

Delta Correctional Facility was a Mississippi Department of Corrections state prison for men, operated by Corrections Corporation of America and located in Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi. The facility originally opened in 1996,^[1] was closed by the state in 2002 then re-opened, then closed once more on January 15, 2012.^[2]

On June 25, 2009, inmate Joseph Jackson serving a life sentence at Delta organized an armed escape during a visit to a local commercial optometrist's office in Greenwood. Jackson and his accomplice then shot Police Sgt. Mark Chesnut five times during a traffic stop.^[3] Sgt. Chestnut survived the shooting, and later filed suit against CCA for $16.5 million. He settled the suit in September 2011 for an undiclosed sum.^[4]

In other separate incidents, a convicted felon named Cedric Gordon was mistakenly released from Delta in mid-August 2009, and returned to prison by his mother. And a fight among inmates on July 7, 2011 left six inmates injured and 26-year-old inmate Derek Criddle fatally stabbed.^[5]

Prior to closing the facility also housed about 125 county prisoners from Leflore County, Mississippi. The complex had been operating at a financial loss.^[6] As a result of the closing, the Mississippi DOC claimed $118 million in cost savings and cost avoidance.^[7]

References

Coordinates: 33°28′50″N 90°12′36″W / 33.48054°N 90.20998°W / 33.48054; -90.20998

Mississippi Department of Corrections prisons State prisons Central Mississippi Correctional Facility♂♀ Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman) South Mississippi Correctional Institution Privately operated prisons Delta Correctional Facility (closed) East Mississippi Correctional Facility Marshall County Correctional Facility Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility Walnut Grove Correctional Facility Wilkinson County Correctional Center Above facilities are male-only unless noted by ♂♀ (both sexes)