This is The Marshall Project - Jackson’s newsletter, a monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Mississippi gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
In this issue, we expose the state’s failure to investigate dozens of killings inside Mississippi prisons over the last decade. The killings have not stopped, with at least six so far this year. Also, a change at the top of the Jackson Police Department.
— Daja E. Henry, The Marshall Project - Jackson
Killings go unanswered in Mississippi prisons
Ronnie Graham was killed on his ninth day at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. He was beaten near his bunk and suffered for at least five hours before a corrections officer found him.
Graham is one of at least 42 people killed in a Mississippi prison since 2015, an investigation by a statewide reporting team organized by The Marshall Project - Jackson found. Reporters from The Marshall Project - Jackson, Mississippi Today, the Clarion Ledger, Hattiesburg American and the Mississippi Link spent nearly a year investigating murders across Mississippi prisons. Out of the 43 homicides, just six have led to convictions.
Though the state’s prisons have repeatedly been cited for unconstitutional conditions, the killings show no sign of ending. Chronic understaffing, gangs that rule by violence, lax oversight and delays in treating life-threatening injuries create an environment where incarcerated people can kill and be killed.
Read the investigation here.
Five years after a prison killing, few answers
Amid an explosive gang war that killed five people in Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in early 2020, 36-year-old Denorris Howell was strangled to death.
He was one of nine people killed in state prisons that year, with six homicides at Parchman.
More than five years later, no one has been charged in his death. Howell’s mother, Janice Wilkins, was left with no answers.
However, text messages and cellphone video obtained by Mississippi Today reporter Jerry Mitchell shed light on the killing. He raised questions about cell keys being shared with incarcerated people and the lights over Howell’s cell being turned off.
Read the story from The Marshall Project - Jackson and Mississippi Today.
Jackson police chief retires, sheriff appointed in interim
Jackson Police Department Chief Joseph Wade retired Sept. 5 after serving two years as the head of the city’s police force. Mayor John Horhn named Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones the interim chief of police.
Wade announced his retirement at an August city council meeting. He plans to join the Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson as its director of security.
“The citizens of Jackson are safer, and our police department is stronger because of his vision and service,” Horhn said in a statement.
Wade joined the force in 1995 and served as interim chief before taking the top post in August 2023.
Under Wade’s leadership, the police force rose from 221 to 258 officers. The city has also seen a 46% reduction in homicides compared with this time last year. His biggest accomplishment, Wade said in a press conference, was building trust with the community.
“We are no longer the laughing stock of the law enforcement community,” he said.
Jones, the interim chief, previously worked as a Jackson police officer for 20 years before being elected as sheriff in 2021. He will hold both posts and said he has no plans to become the permanent chief.
A Law Enforcement Task Force led by former U.S. Marshal George White and former Mississippi Highway Patrol Chief Col. Charles Haynes will conduct a nationwide search for the new police chief. The search is expected to take 30 to 60 days.
“My view is that we probably have to get someone from outside who doesn’t have any preconceived notions about the City of Jackson or about the police department, and who can help us reshape our police department,” Horhn said at a Sept. 10 forum.
The task force will also study safety challenges facing the city, including youth crime, drug crimes and coordination between law enforcement agencies.
Also in the news
Hinds County Circuit Court gets new judge. Damon Stevenson, most recently a Byram Municipal Court Judge, was appointed to a newly created fifth seat on the Hinds County Circuit Court. The seat was created as part of state-mandated redistricting. His term runs through Jan. 4, 2027. Mississippi Today
Drug overdoses raise concern at Raymond Detention Center. An internal Hinds County Sheriff’s Office memo detailed a July 9 incident where nine incarcerated people purportedly overdosed, including one who died. WLBT
Federal judge nominees await confirmation. Mississippi Supreme Court Justices Robert Chamberlin and James Maxwell testified before the U.S. Senate after being nominated to federal district court judgeships by President Donald Trump. If they are confirmed by the Senate, Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint two justices to fill the new vacancies on the state’s high court. A special judicial election in November 2026 would follow. Mississippi Today
State Supreme Court sets execution date. The state plans to execute Charles Ray Crawford on Oct. 15. Crawford has been on death row for more than 30 years, convicted of a 1993 murder. WJTV
Reach out to us
The Marshall Project - Jackson wants to know about deaths, injuries or mistreatment that happened in state prisons to incarcerated people or prison employees. If there’s an incident you think we should investigate, please contact us through this form or jackson@themarshallproject.org. All tips are confidential.
