MDOC lifts prison lockdown for most state-run facilities

Last updated: January 7, 2020

The Mississippi Department of Corrections has lifted the lockdown for 11 of its 15 regional prisons.

In a Facebook post, MDOC said that movement is no longer restricted for all but four of the county regional correctional facilities. Facilities in Alcorn, Bolivar, Chickasaw and Yazoo counties remain on lockdown.

A statewide lockdown on state-run and private prisons was put into place Monday, Dec. 30, 2019, after one man was killed, Terrandance Dobbins, 40, and at least two others were injured at the Mississippi Regional Correction Facility in Leakesville the previous Sunday.

Despite the lockdown, by Friday, Jan. 3, five inmates had died in Mississippi prisons, three of them at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

On Saturday, Jan. 4, two or possibly three men escaped from Parchman. All of the escapees are back in custody.

The majority of the week’s chaos and killings were gang-related, a fact Gov. Phil Bryant acknowledged in a press conference yesterday.