Jackson Free Press

City Calls on Companies to Offer ‘Fresh Start'

Jackson is making an effort to stop the revolving door in the state's prison system. One of the biggest keys, according to the Fresh Start Task Force, is helping formerly …

Private Prisons Flourish on Desperation

If you drive around Natchez, a sleepy river town of 16,045 people, and talk to folks, everybody has an opinion on whether Adams County Correction Center and its parent company, …

Private Prison, Public Problems

Gail Tyree exited U.S. Highway 84 onto Hobo Fork Road and drove through the rose-adorned entrance of the sprawling Adams County Correctional Center. A female correctional officer leaving the prison's …

Melton Mentees Get Second Chance

The late Mayor Frank Melton may well be smiling from his grave over the good fortune bestowed by Gov. Haley Barbour and the city of Jackson to two of the …

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City Leaders Prepare ‘Fresh Start'

A few dozen local leaders from a range of fields are working on a program to help keep people from returning to prison after leaving.

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Why Write for the JFP?

Ugh! He's in my office again, with his holier-than-thou arrogance, his buffed-up hair and skin so alabaster he can't have ever seen the sun! What does he want this time? …

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Stolen Lives: Remembering the Tragedy of Slavery

An Instrument of Change

A half moon disappeared as the sun rose out of the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 1, 1832. The humid coastal winds filled the sails and carried the ship through the …

BREAKING: JPS Agrees to Overhaul Discipline Policies, Settles Lawsuit

Good news! The Southern Poverty Law Center just emailed this statement, pasted in its entirety:

JACKSON, Miss. – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announced today that a federal judge has approved a settlement agreement with Jackson Public Schools (JPS) to reform discipline policies across …

Cause of Private Prison Melee Disputed

What we know about this past weekend's events at the Adams County Correctional Center, a private federal prison in Natchez, is that a group of prisoners briefly took control of …

Awards, Awards, Awards: Cheers to JFP Staff, Freelancers

Yesterday was a very good day for the JFP staff, and especially our writers and designers. First we found out that we are finalists for three Association of Alternative Newsmedia …

WTF, Rep. Nunnelee?!?

Who ARE you, and why would you do such a thing, Rep. Nunnelee, considering you come from state where domestic abuse is such an epidemic? I mean, Haley Barbour lets …

Boys Will Be Boys

I don't manage to get out of the office often these days for lunch. But Friday I was in the mood for a Two Sisters veggie plate (probably had something …

[Outlaw] Yes. We. Can.

There was a weight on me—a black cloud that threatened all manner of lightening and rain, and I just couldn't shake it. "This," I thought to myself, "this will never …

8th Annual JFP Chick Ball Set for Saturday, July 28, 2012

The 8th Annual JFP Chick Ball is raising money to help the Center for Violence Prevention start a rape crisis center. Center Director Sandy Middleton chose the focus for this …

The Heartbreak Grape

I never tried pinot noir until the movie "Sideways" intrigued me into buying a bottle. I haven't bought another merlot or cabernet since.

Deep as My Bones

Mama froze. She was holding something, a towel I think it was, and her hand stopped in mid air. Her incessant motion on pause for a moment, she looked at …

[Queen] ‘A Place in the World'

"God Almighty created each and every one of us for a place in the world, and for the least of us to think that we were created only to be …

‘Where I Am, You May Not Harm'

Joan Chittister's voice fairly resonates with passion. Her broad smile belies a fierce intelligence and a barely disguised rage at injustice of any sort, especially over systemic injustices of poverty …

Councilmen to Battle Mayor on Business

Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba and Ward 4 Councilman Frank Bluntson have both put their name in the running to become the mayor of Jackson after next year's election. At …

Beauty, Pain of Womanhood

Sometimes when people find that the play "For Colored Girls..." is going to be performed in their town, they think of the Tyler Perry adaptation. "I already saw the movie," …