Utah private prison company returns $5M to Mississippi after understaffing is found at facility

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Auditor Shad White says a private prison company has returned $5.1 million to the Mississippi Department of Corrections for failing to provide enough workers at one of the prisons it was operating. White said on Monday that Utah-based Management & Training Corporation sent the money to the department last week. MTC had operated the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs, Mississippi, since August 2012 until the state took control of it in September 2021. The auditor’s office found MTC failed to provide enough workers to ensure the safety of inmates and prison employees, but the company was still paid by the state as if it had.