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U.S. NEWS Monday 6 January 2020
1 of 2 escapees from

troubled Mississippi

prison in custody

By The Associated Press tweeted.
One of two prisoners be- Parchman is a series of cell
lieved to have escaped blocks scattered across
from one of several Mis- thousands of acres of farm-
sissippi prisons recently land in Mississippi's Delta re-
rocked by violence is back gion. Inmates who escape This combination of photos made available by the Mississippi
in custody, authorities said their cells sometimes don't Department of Corrections on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020 shows in-
early Sunday. make it off the property. mates David May, 42, and Dillion Williams, 27.
The Mississippi Department Mississippi's outgoing pris- Associated Press
of Corrections tweeted just ons chief said Friday that
before 3:30 a.m. that David four of the five killings of in- tally stabbed at Parchman have been other violent in-
May was in custody. Further mates since Sunday stem in a fracas that led to mul- cidents in prisons.
details weren't immediately from gang violence, as tiple injuries. Before dawn Mississippi's prison system
released. guards struggle to maintain Friday, Denorris Howell, 36, has struggled to fill guard
Gov. Phil Bryant on Satur- control of restive inmates. was found dead in his cell vacancies, with Hall say-
day said via Twitter that he Corrections Commissioner at Parchman. ing it's difficult to attract
directed "the use of all nec- Pelicia Hall said the de- Corrections officials have people with salaries that
essary assets and person- partment won't confirm repeatedly not answered start below $25,000 a year.
nel" to find the two inmates the names of the gangs questions about how many Some guards end up bring-
who escaped Saturday "for security purposes," but people overall have been ing illegal drugs and cell-
from the Mississippi State relatives of inmates who injured, or whether there phones into prisons. q
Penitentiary at Parchman. spoke to The Associated
Five inmates have died in Press and other news out-
prison violence since Dec. lets said there's an ongo-
29; three of those deaths ing confrontation between
have occurred at Parch- the Vice Lords and Black
man. Gangster Disciples.
The corrections depart- It wouldn't be the first time
ment said in a Facebook the two gangs have warred
post that May, 42, and behind bars in Mississippi,
Dillion Williams, 27, were with previous confronta-
discovered missing from tions at Parchman and oth-
Parchman during an er prisons over the past 15
"emergency count" about years. A 2015 survey found
1:45 a.m. Saturday. May nearly 3,000 Black Gang-
is serving a life sentence ster Disciple members and
for two aggravated as- nearly 2,000 Vice Lords in
sault convictions in Harri- prisons statewide.
son County, and Williams is "These are trying times for
serving a 40-year sentence the Mississippi Department
for residential burglary and of Corrections," Hall said Fri-
aggravated assault in Mar- day.
shall County. All state prisons statewide
The state Department of remained locked down
Public Safety deployed Saturday, Bryant said, with
state troopers and the inmates confined to cells,
highway patrol's special and no visitors allowed.
operations group to help T he first of five inmates
the Department of Correc- identified as dying was Ter-
tions find the two inmates randance Dobbins, 40, who
and to help restore order died Sunday at the South
at the troubled facility that Mississippi Correctional In-
they escaped from, Bryant stitute in Leakesville. Two
said. days later, Walter Gates,
The department said via 25, was stabbed and sev-
Twitter on Saturday after- eral other inmates were in-
noon that there were no jured at Parchman during
major disturbances occur- a fight that spread to mul-
ring at Parchman. tiple units of the sprawling
"There was a minor fire at prison. Then on Thursday,
Unit 30 earlier this week. Gregory Emary, 26, was
That fire, set by an inmate, killed at the Chickasaw
was immediately extin- County Regional Correc-
guished. Like other facili- tional Facility, a county-run
ties in the prison system, the jail that holds state inmates.
prison has limited move- Also Thursday, 32-year-old
ment," the department Roosevelt Holliman was fa-