While the Corrections Corporation of America operates a prison directly behind his home, he does not work there. However, he does work security for a local company in the Delta of Mississippi.
Tallahatchie County, Mississippi is a small community in the Delta that has a little more than 15,000 residents. Of that number, about 600 work in the prison behind this man’s home. The prison is contracted through the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Before the opening of the prison, the county was on the downfall quick.
While standing in his front yard on a hot September day, he told me, “The only thing that made a difference was they put that private prison back here [pointing behind his home].” CCA pays property taxes to Tallahatchie County for the facility.
Since opening in year 2000, the prison has served as both a county jail and a prison that houses inmates from all over the country. The prison currently has inmates from Mississippi, Wisconsin, Colorado, Louisiana, Hawaii and California.
In 2008, California sent 1,300 inmates to the facility in Mississippi. Soon after their arrival, a riot broke out between rival California gang members. This man remembered that day well, “I seen they was on top of the building. They had SWAT on top of the building and stuff like that.” He said the county had to shut the highway in front of the prison down until the problem was fixed and inmates back in their cells.
Some may ask if the community likes having inmates from all over the country in their local facility. The answer would be an overwhelming yes.
If other states did not send inmates to Tallahatchie County, the prison would fold and the town would see massive layoffs from CCA. That happened in 2001 when Alabama withdrew their inmates. The employee number went from 204 to 40 by the end of 2001. However, they have since recovered and continue to grow steadily.
I think it is safe to say that all in all, the prison literally saved the county and the city of Tutwiler, Mississippi.
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