Minimum through close custody (men); all classifications including death row (women) · State Prison · MDOC

Central Mississippi Correctional Facility

Pearl, Rankin County, Mississippi

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: (601) 932-2880 Info last verified: June 2026

The system's front door in Pearl, just east of Jackson — the reception and classification center for everyone entering MDOC, and the home of the state's women's prison and youthful-offender unit.

Statewide rules that apply at every MDOC state prison

These rules are set by MDOC and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in Mississippi.

Dress code

Shirts and closed outdoor shoes required; underwear required (a bra for women). No tank, crop, sleeveless, or strapless tops, spaghetti straps, or bare midriffs.
Nothing see-through, overly tight, or revealing — no yoga pants, leggings, spandex, hip-huggers, jogging or biking shorts, mini-skirts, or cutoffs.
Shorts must reach the knee; skirts and dresses no shorter than one inch above the knee, with no slit above the knee when seated.
No hats or head coverings except for religious reasons; jewelry limited to a wedding ring, a religious medallion, and a medical-alert bracelet — no body-piercing jewelry.
The dress code applies to children too, and a violation turns the visit away and can carry a one-year visiting suspension.

ID: Visitors 18 and older present a valid government photo ID (driver's license, state ID, or passport). Ages 16-17 need a photo ID showing date of birth; children 15 and under bring a legible birth certificate.
What to bring: No phones, wallets, purses, tobacco, or cash inside — leave them locked in the vehicle. Visits are cashless, with prepaid vending cards sold in the visit area; one infant diaper bag is allowed (up to 4 diapers, 2 bottles, a change of clothes, a pacifier, and wipes).
Scheduling: The incarcerated person starts the visitor application — forms come only from them, never online — lists up to 10 visitors, and tells visitors the days and rules. Up to 5 visitors per visit; frequency runs by custody level (about four times a month at minimum custody down to once a month at close custody). MDOC posts no schedules, so confirm days and hours with the facility.

Full statewide rules: Visiting in Mississippi

Overview

Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, in Pearl just east of Jackson, is the system’s front door: MDOC’s published guidance calls it “the first stop for individuals sentenced to” the department, where everyone is received, oriented, and classified before placement. Established in 1986 and built out across 18 housing units, it holds men in minimum, medium, and close custody, and it is the only facility in the system holding women — administered, after a 2023 reorganization, as the separately run Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women on the same campus, with its own superintendent. The women’s population spans every classification, including the state’s one woman under a death sentence. People under 18 are held in the Youthful Offender Unit, opened in 2012 with academic, vocational, and treatment programming.

What Makes Central Mississippi Different

Everyone starts here. Reception and classification — the intake that assigns custody level and facility — happens at CMCF, and no visits are allowed during it. The no-visit intake window runs about two weeks to 45 days.
It is the women’s prison. The state’s women are held on this campus as the Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women, sharing the address and phone but run as a separate facility. Some women are also held at the Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood.
It holds youth. The Youthful Offender Unit is for people under 18, with its own programming.
Its metro location makes it more reachable than the state’s rural prisons — about six miles east of downtown Jackson, near the airport.
Federal findings cover this facility (see below).

Conditions and Federal Oversight

In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, with both Mississippi U.S. Attorney’s Offices, issued findings that conditions at Central Mississippi — along with South Mississippi and Wilkinson County — violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, centered on a failure to protect people from violence and sexual assault and on prolonged restrictive housing. The report is linked in the sources below; the channels for raising a concern are in Medical & Mental Health.

Visiting

The statewide MDOC rules above — the inmate-initiated application, the dress code, ID, and screening — apply at Central Mississippi. No schedule is published, and no visits occur during reception and classification; after that, how often a person can visit depends on their custody level, confirmed by phone. There are no video visits at MDOC state prisons. The full approval process is in Visiting in Mississippi.

Getting There and Parking

CMCF is on Highway 468 in Pearl, just off Interstate 20 east of Jackson.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. On-site visitor parking is available; MDOC publishes no specific parking instructions for the facility.

Nearby Services

Pearl, Brandon, and Flowood form a continuous retail belt east of Jackson, with national chains for food, gas, and lodging along the I-20 corridor and the Dogwood district in Flowood. Merit Health Rankin at 350 Crossgates Boulevard in Brandon runs the area’s emergency room — (601) 825-2811 — and Jackson’s larger hospitals, including the University of Mississippi Medical Center, are a short drive west.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone in a Mississippi state prison:

Visiting in Mississippi — the application, dress code, and custody-level visiting
Mail & Packages — the photocopy system and addressing mail to P.O. Box 88550
Phone & Video Calls — the ViaPath phone and tablet system
Sending Money — depositing to a spending account
Medical & Mental Health — healthcare, the women’s facility, and raising a concern
Transfers — intake, classification, and finding someone

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.