http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/us/mississippi-closes-private-prison-walnut-grove.html 2016-09-16 01:00:15 Privately Run Mississippi Prison, Called a Scene of Horror, Is Shut Down The Walnut Grove facility that had been operating since 2012 under a federal consent decree for violating prisoners’ constitutional rights was the scene of two major riots in 2014. === A privately operated Mississippi prison that a federal judge once concluded was effectively run by gangs in collusion with corrupt prison guards, closed Thursday, its prisoners transferred to other state facilities, officials said. Conditions at the prison, the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, were The move to shutter Walnut Grove, in Leake County, comes one month after the Justice Department But the Obama administration decision does not affect states, which have increasingly come to While states say they enter arrangements with for-profit prison contractors to save money, some On Thursday, Walnut Grove’s demise was celebrated by prison rights organizations and civil liberties groups. “Good riddance to Walnut Grove, a cesspool sponsored by Mississippians’ tax dollars,” said Jody Owens, managing attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Walnut Grove was run by The Mississippi Department of Corrections said in June that it had decided to shutter Walnut Grove not because of the often-unrestrained violence at the facility, but for budget cuts. Grace Simmons Fisher, a corrections department spokeswoman, declined to comment on Thursday. Issa Arnita, a spokesman for the private prison contractor, said on Thursday in a statement that Management and Training Corporation had “made tremendous improvements to overall operations” at Walnut Grove since it took over management in 2012. But the 1,260-bed facility had been operating since 2012 under a federal consent decree for violating prisoners’ constitutional rights, and in 2014, Walnut Grove was the scene of two major riots. Last year, Judge Reeves extended federal oversight of the prison because of continuing Conditions A 2012 Justice Department “The sexual misconduct we found was among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation,” the report said. Some of the guards, the report said, were themselves members of the gangs, including at least one prison supervisor who let prisoners out of their cells to assault unsuspecting rivals. Organized gladiator-style fights between prisoners and encouraged by guards were also a frequent occurrence, with guards betting on the outcomes, according to the report. Mr. Owens, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that on one visit to Walnut Grove, the odor of marijuana hung so heavily in the air that he worried he would get a contact high. “It was like walking out of a club and your clothes smell like smoke,” he said. Even after juveniles were removed from the facility, violence continued. At the same time, the neighboring town of Walnut Grove, population 1,900, boomed from prison revenue and employment. The town lobbied to be the site of a prison after one of its major employers, a glove factory, was closed. As an example of the close ties between the prison and the town, Walnut Grove’s mayor, William Grady Sims, served for a time as the prison’s warden. In 2009, Mr. Sims drove a female inmate to a motel room where they had sex. He later told the woman to lie to investigators about it. Mr. Sims was convicted and