South Mississippi Correctional Institution

A minimum- and medium-custody men's prison in Leakesville, in far southeastern Mississippi — the reception center for southern counties, an hour from Hattiesburg with no public transit.

Overview

South Mississippi Correctional Institution is among the newest of the state’s large prisons — MDOC describes it as established in 1989, and dates its opening to April 1990 — built on 360 acres outside Leakesville. It holds men in minimum and medium custody, along with a protective-custody population, across 16 housing units, and it is the reception and classification center for men sentenced from southern Mississippi counties — a roughly two-week-to-45-day intake during which no visits are allowed. Work assignments here include a Greene County road crew, a mobile work crew, and a blueberry orchard the prison has run since 2006.

What Makes South Mississippi Different

• It is the southern intake point. Men sentenced from the southern part of the state are received and classified here before placement, and visiting cannot begin until classification finishes.
• It is remote, with no transit. The nearest town with services is Lucedale, about 20 miles south; Hattiesburg and Mobile are each about an hour away. No fixed-route bus or public transit serves the area, so a private vehicle is effectively required.
• It is lower-custody than Parchman. SMCI holds minimum- and medium-custody men, which generally means contact visits are available — though the frequency still depends on the person’s classification.
• 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 of Mississippi’s U.S. Attorney’s Offices, issued findings that conditions at South Mississippi — along with Central Mississippi and Wilkinson County — violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. For South Mississippi, the findings centered on a failure to protect people from violence and sexual assault, tied to severe understaffing. (The report’s separate finding on prolonged restrictive housing applied to the other two prisons it covered, not to South Mississippi, which it described as using open, dormitory-style housing.) The report is linked in the sources below; families raising a safety or medical concern can use the channels in Medical & Mental Health.

Visiting

The statewide MDOC rules above — the inmate-initiated application, the dress code, ID, and screening — apply at South Mississippi. As at every MDOC prison, no schedule is published: how often a person can visit depends on their custody level, and the visiting day comes from the incarcerated person and a call to the facility. There are no video visits at MDOC state prisons. The full approval process is in Visiting in Mississippi.

Getting There and Parking

SMCI is on Highway 63 North, north of Leakesville.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. MDOC publishes no facility-specific parking layout; visitors park in the designated visiting area, leave belongings locked in the vehicle, and are subject to vehicle search.

Nearby Services

Lucedale — the George County seat, about 20 miles south — is the nearest town with gas, food, and lodging; Hattiesburg, an hour away, has the fullest range. George Regional Hospital at 859 Winter Street in Lucedale runs a 24/7 emergency room — (601) 947-3161 — the closest ER to the prison.

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 1419
• Phone & Video Calls — the ViaPath phone and tablet system
• Sending Money — depositing to a spending account
• Medical & Mental Health — healthcare and raising a concern
• Transfers — intake, classification, and finding someone