Delta Correctional Facility

Delta Correctional Facility was a Mississippi Department of Corrections state prison for men, operated by Corrections Corporation of America and located in Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi in the largely rural Mississippi Delta region. The facility originally opened in 1996, with a capacity of 1172. This facility was closed by the state in 2002, then re-opened in 2004. The facility was closed on January 15, 2012, due to excess capacity in the state.Prior to closing, the facility also housed about 125 county prisoners from Leflore County, Mississippi. As a result of the closing, the Mississippi DOC claimed $118 million in cost savings and cost avoidance.Management incidentsIn 2009, Joseph Jackson, serving a life sentence at Delta Correctional Facility, escaped custody while on a supervised visit to an eye doctor. Jackson's cousin, Cortney Logan of Louisville, Kentucky, used a firearm to free Jackson, and the pair fled in a rental car. When stopped approximately 300mi northeast in Nashville, Tennessee by police Sergeant Mark Chesnut, Jackson shot the officer. Chestnut survived and later sued Corrections Corporation of America. It was settled for an undisclosed amount.Logan was found guilty as an accomplice in the shooting of Chesnut.Convicted felon Cedric Gordon was mistakenly released from Delta in mid-August 2009; his mother returned him to prison. A gang fight among inmates on July 7, 2011 left six inmates injured and 26-year-old inmate Derek Criddle fatally stabbed.