JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Corrections is seeking proposals from private companies to operate four of the state's private prisons.
Commissioner Christopher Epps says the new contracts will begin Dec. 1.
Epps says he wants more security staff hired at Marshall County Correctional Facility, East Mississippi Correctional Facility, Walnut Grove Correctional Facility and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.
He says the current operation contracts expire Nov. 30.
Epps says Utah-based Management & Training Corporation, which has been managing the private prisons since July 2012, is invited to be among the bidders. The company says it intends to bid again.
The four privates are owned by local authority boards in their communities and collectively can house about 5,000 inmates. Marshall opened in June 1996; Wilkinson, January 1998; East, April 1999; and Walnut 2001.
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