Residents in Leake County are voicing their opposition to a plan to reopen a troubled prison in Walnut Grove. Recently, Governor Tate Reeves announced the state will begin relocating some inmates from the Parchman Penitentiary facility. MPB's Kobee Vance reports.
Citizens in Leake County held a public forum to share their opinions on bringing prisoners into their area. The Walnut Grove Prison has been unused since it was shut down over 3 years ago. Governor Reeves recently announced plans to transfer prisoners from Unit 29 at Parchman to Walnut Grove. NAACP and Boys and Girls Club representative Gwendolyn Reid voiced her concerns about having a prison in the small town.
"We just want our community to keep flowing healthy. We don't want a sick community. We don't want our community looking like some other places we've seen when private prisons come and go. We've suffered before, we don't want it again."
The Walnut Grove Prison served as a juvenile detention center until 2016 when it was shut down by the federal government due to poor conditions. The Prison is located near Leake County High School. Galam Smith says he prefers to keep criminals in rural areas like Parchman
"If anybody escapes from there they got a long way to travel. I'm talking about they're not gonna be going into anybody's house no time soon. And here we're talking about Walnut Grove, a mile from a school, and we care about our schools. We care about our kids and we care about our community."
Senate Corrections Chairman Juan Barnett of Heidelberg attended the meeting to hear concerns and answer questions. He wants to reform the prison system so inmates are educated when they are released.
"So when these individuals happen to walk out of the prison system, then there's no burden on them, nor their families in trying to take care of some of the expenses that they owed while they was in there."
At least 15 inmates have died in the state prison system since late December.