Talk:Mississippi State Penitentiary

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List of buildings

This document lists all of the state-owned buildings at Parchman, including their dollar values and dates of construction: "Schedule of Values - General Property." http://www.webcitation.org/6DQgGlNBg WhisperToMe (talk) 00:37, 14 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Security at the prison

In Faulkner's works, Parchman is always described as a prison without walls, i.e., there are shotgun-toting trusties and not much else. Security is tight, and because of that there are no walls. Does anyone know if the real Parchman is or ever was that way? User:Snyrt

See if you can find microfilms in Jackson describing it. WhisperToMe (talk) 05:55, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More sources

Schaefer, Ward. "Parchman’s Past, Prison’s Future." Jackson Free Press. March 30, 2011.

http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file829_41138.pdf - ACLU article

Reed, Roy. "Inmates call roll of violence, death at Parchman 'slave farm'." The New York Times at the Eugene Register-Guard. Wednesday September 20, 1972. 9B. WhisperToMe (talk) 00:42, 14 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"BEYOND SUPERMAX ADMINISTRATIVE SEGREGATION Mississippi’s Experience Rethinking Prison Classification and Creating Alternative Mental Health Programs." Criminal Justice and Behavior OnlineFirst, July 21, 2009. WhisperToMe (talk) 05:55, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Davoudi, Salamander. "Life among Parchman Farm's dangerous inmates." Financial Times. Friday July 2, 2004.

It would be nice if an original link was found

WhisperToMe (talk) 05:01, 15 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"LEGISLATOR: CLOSE SOME UNITS AT PARCHMAN, BY EMILY WAGSTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS." Biloxi Sun Herald. June 7, 2004. A4 Local Front WhisperToMe (talk) 16:47, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Finding Aids to Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture." American Folklife Center, Library of Congress refers to folk music recorded at Parchman WhisperToMe (talk) 07:54, 20 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Furgurson, Ernest B. "Parchman and Prison Reform." The Baltimore Sun. March 7, 1971.

Also This seems to be Unit 32, as This, according to MDOC, is the entrance to Unit 32

"Get on the Bus 2002 - Parchman." - University of Michigan WhisperToMe (talk) 07:17, 20 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also this Flickr pic would be nice, if it were relicensed.

The author is not willing to remove the noncommercial tag on his picture. WhisperToMe (talk) 16:18, 20 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Lawsuit against U32" at ACLU site. WhisperToMe (talk) 17:24, 3 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sanitary document: Report of the Board of Health of Mississippi. Board of Health of Mississippi, 1911. 95. On Google Books.

"Road to Reflection." Wake Forest Magazine. September 2003. Page 8 (10/68). WhisperToMe (talk) 18:44, 1 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And a book review: Yadley, Jonathan. "In the Fields of Despair." Washington Post. Sunday March 31, 1996.

And some property value documents from the state:

"Schedule of Values General Property."
"List of Insured buildings."
- Says that Parchman has 94 staff houses, staff apartments A, staff apartments B, and the superintendent's house - Also has a guest house
- Also has the Superintendent house utility shed and the guest house utility shed
- Entrance Gate #1
- MPIC Garment Plant
"SOV 08-09."
"SOV 07-08."

And more info on MSP Unit projects "The Resource Volume 8, Issue 7." MDOC. July 2006. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:17, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Construction info

"ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS (Unit 26 roof repairs)

And awards

"Mississippi State Penitentiary employees receiving awards for April 20021 continued."

And a lawsuit about conditions on Unit 32 "Gates v. Cook, 376 F.3d 323, 2004 WL 1440601 (5th Cir. July 9, 2004), 2004 U.S.App. LEXIS 13890."

WhisperToMe (talk) 07:20, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While his is a blog post:

http://vintageknives.com/tek9.asp?id=89 - from a freelance photographer - Mentions the Clarion Ledger's "200 inmates in isolation after riot"

WhisperToMe (talk) 04:04, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Mississippi State Penitentiary Superintendent Retiring." MDOC. January 28, 2010. WhisperToMe (talk) 05:01, 5 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsensical statement

"In the 1990s MSP had 6,800 prisoners; in 1995 about one in every thirty Mississippians was confined in MSP. " The preceding statement makes no sense. Are there only about 200,000 Mississippians ? Eregli bob (talk) 06:33, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Let's look at the citation
- "Confederacy of Silence: A True Tale of the New Old South" Page 320. "At the time of my visit, Parchman was home to sixty-eight hundred prisoners, meaning that roughly every one Mississippian in thirty was imprisoned there" - I took the figure from that source.
Multiply 6,800 by 30 and there is 204000. The 1990 census had 2,573,000 as the total population of Mississippi. It seems like the author may have forgotten a zero, and it is more like one in three hundred. Or possibly the author was using another set of criteria that wasn't stated in the paragraph.
I'll remove it because I cannot seem to further clarify the figure. Thank you for bringing that to my attention! As a future note, when you check credibility of statements on Wikipedia, please consult the sources that the authors used, so you can determine whether the statement makes common sense and whether the source cited actually supports what was said.
WhisperToMe (talk) 23:23, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen this statistic quoted somewhere before, and it was along the lines that one in thirty Mississippians ( or maybe one in thirty Mississippian males ) had been locked up there at some time in their lives. Not all at once.Eregli bob (talk) 11:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I see. That would make more sense, especially because 1. for a long time MSP was the only state prison and 2. MSP at one time housed females. Where did you believe that you saw that statistic? WhisperToMe (talk) 22:17, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Coordinates

Currently the coordinates are for the center of the MSP property. The coordinates for "Parchman, MS" (the front entrance) are {{Coord|33|55|04|N|90|29|47|W|type:city_region:US-MS|display=title}} WhisperToMe (talk) 04:56, 27 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

MSP map

Wonderful news!

MDOC released a map of MSP and some other great info in this document: http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/PressReleases/2010NewsReleases/2010-09-01%20Combined%20Final.pdf http://www.webcitation.org/6DQgMN0UV

The map is on page 2 (2/31). It indicates locations of places. We can make our own free version of this map. WhisperToMe (talk) 07:16, 14 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Camp B

I notice that http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/mdoc%20quick%20reference.htm says... " Quitman County CWC Reginald Steward, Commander 201 Camp B Rd – Lambert, MS 38643 Phone: (662) 326-2133 "

So was Camp B actually in a different county than the rest of Parchman? WhisperToMe (talk) 12:47, 20 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just found my answer: http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/poorheartease/theauthor.html - Camp B was a satellite, away from the main complex!!! WhisperToMe (talk) 12:48, 20 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And http://www.gomdot.com/Divisions/IntermodalPlanning/resources/Maps/pdf/CountyHighwayMaps/Quitman.pdf shows where to find Camp B Road (Google Maps doesn't seem to want to find it) WhisperToMe (talk) 12:54, 20 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

http://openjurist.org/501/f2d/1291/gates-v-collier - Gates v. Collier says: " For example, at Camp B., for 80 men, there are three wash basins which consist of oil drums cut in half." WhisperToMe (talk) 13:13, 20 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement

John Lewis talks about his Parchman experience in Walking With The Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. WhisperToMe (talk) 13:14, 20 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Census document

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/st2kuc.txt says "28 67429 Parchman (Mississippi State Penitentiary), MS 3950 7211249 1418.7 " I'm not sure what it means WhisperToMe (talk) 01:41, 28 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish name

See: "penitenciaría estatal de Parchman" From: "Ejecutaron a dos reos Uno en Texas, el otro en Mississippi." Univision. May 20, 2010. WhisperToMe (talk) 00:37, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Photo of Unit 17 in the 1960s

"Photo 75 of 78." at:
- "Freedom Riders: Then" San Antonio Express-News. shows an image of Unit 17 in the 1960s, during the time the Freedom Riders were incarcerated

WhisperToMe (talk) 06:03, 11 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Address

I have seen "590 Parchman 28 Road Parchman, MS " on internet postings, but it doesn't seem to be official WhisperToMe (talk) 14:56, 16 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Chapel

"Charles Winters Obituary." The Clarion-Ledger. February 11, 2011.

This refers to the "Calvary Chapel in Parchman."

But it seems like it's not on the prison property. The Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Calvary-Chapel-sbc/391355259046#!/pages/Calvary-Chapel-sbc/391355259046?sk=info says the address is "36 Ward-Riddick Road Drew, MS, 38737-38" WhisperToMe (talk) 03:26, 28 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

People buried at Parchman

Crisp, Elizabeth. "More about Gerald James Holland." The Clarion Ledger. May 20, 2010.

This says that killer Gerald James Holland was scheduled to be buried at Parchman, despite the fact that he had children and grandchildren. WhisperToMe (talk) 16:37, 4 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tone/Essay-like

This article's tone seems a bit inappropriate and the section about the Freedom Riders seems overly detailed and essay-like. Also, why is the history of the MSP divided between pre-Freedom Riders and post-Freedom Riders? Was their brief incarceration at MSP really the defining moment of the prison's history? Finally, what is with the quotation from "Parchman Farm Blues" at the end of the article? It seems a bit unencyclopedic. Thoughts? Should I clean this up? BurtAlert (talk) 22:32, 11 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Locations of buildings

WhisperToMe (talk) 21:58, 28 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Locations of "prison area" signs

Approaching northbound, from the south: [1]
Approaching southbound, from the north: [2]

Unknown stuff

On state road 32, east of the main entrance: unknown sign
unknown building, on state road 32
http://www.wirz.de/music/kokomo/grafik/kokomo.jpg - This sign - Where is it from?

WhisperToMe (talk) 19:37, 11 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cant Believe This H3LL-Hole is still in existence!

I tought for certain that this place has shut sown a long time ago. At least a couple or 3 decades ago. This place was known to be worse than slavery. I have known real stories that would blow your mind and actually make you cry. Mississippi seems to have nothing that advances the state into the 21st friggin century! Its even illegal in a certain area to have a high school prom with a "mixed" crowd of kids. ..."mixed"...that term was probably coined in Mississippi. Im sure there are people who are proud to be from Mississippi. As southerners we have William Faulkner - who wrote of the realism there. But,,,,,,Parchman?! My God....enough is enough. Too much to say but,,,think about all the MONEY that is spent to keep that place running and operating (not my biased talk but actually in the article) and then think about Mississippi as one of the poorest states in the nation.(look that up - NOT biased) SOrry to be so honest but its true. HATE to even think about Parchman. PS God Bless Bukka White]] — Preceding unsigned comment added by InTheGutterLookingAtThe Stars (talk • contribs) 18:36, 24 July 2012 (UTC) --InTheGutterLookingAtThe Stars (talk) 18:41, 24 July 2012 (UTC) InTheGutterLookinAtTheStars[reply]

Needs more data on population and character

It's odd that there is so little info/data about the prison population - changes in what direction from 1901 to present; how related to other issues in MS, education/rehab v. policies of punishment/work, etc. Editors need to look at more than newspaper articles to cover this topic.--Parkwells (talk) 18:29, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There are books and journal articles, so it's possible the phenomena are covered there. WhisperToMe (talk) 21:24, 4 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Book chapters

The first several chapters of a book related to Parchman are at:
- http://courses.umass.edu/bh391/read/taylor_001.pdf - http://www.webcitation.org/6BvqWi4va - Down on the Parchman Farm by William Banks Taylor, Foreword by Peggy Whitman Prenshaw

WhisperToMe (talk) 21:24, 4 November 2012 (UTC) WhisperToMe (talk) 21:24, 4 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Removal of photo

There's a photo on this article of an aerial view of the prison property. I don't think it's necessary. The geo-coordinate data at the top of the page links to Google and Bing maps, and both have satellite view (which may be more recent). I'd be in favour of removing the picture. Richard Apple (talk) 03:25, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The purpose of the sat photo is to show how vast and spread out the property is. A person looking through Google or Bing maps may not necessarily understand how large the property is unless/until he or she takes the time to poke around. Also you can crosscheck the 1990s map with the boundary indicated by the 1966 topographical map to delineate the actual boundaries. One could also crosscheck it with the map within the cell phone PDF from MDOC to indicate which buildings have units for housing prisoners. WhisperToMe (talk) 06:14, 31 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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