Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a response from the Management and Training Corporation.
Three Mississippi prisons needed more employees to ensure safety for incarcerated people. But the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, Marshall County Correctional Facility and Wilkinson Correctional Facility received no new help despite Management and Training Corporation receiving a contract worth $7.4 million in taxpayer money with the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Mississippi State Auditor Shad White alleges in a Monday press release.
“I don’t care how big of an out-of-state company you are or how many campaign donations you make to the other politicians, if you owe taxpayers money because you failed to live up to a contract with government, we will demand you pay it back,” he said in the press release. “No free rides on the backs of taxpayers.”
MTC is a contractor that manages private prisons, immigration detention facilities, job corp training facilities, community release centers, treatment programs and outpatient behavioral health programs. Based out of Utah, the for-profit company provides staff, treatment programs, and health care services across the U.S. and in England and Australia.
White said auditors began investigating the company after hearing allegations that MTC was not fulfilling its contractual obligations with MDOC and had not provided any additional employees for the prisons. Investigators determined that MTC had not provided the “minimum mandatory staff to ensure the safety of inmates and prison employees but were paid as if they had,” the press release noted.
As a result of MTC’s alleged misspending of taxpayer money, White has issued civil demands to the company for not providing staff for the three correctional facilities. The Mississippi Department of Corrections received invoices from White’s office of $6,002,027.92 for the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, $462,299.32 for the East Mississippi Correctional Facility and $959,240.06 for the Marshall County Correctional Facility.
The auditor said he referred the demand to the Mississippi Attorney General Office to enforce in court.
“This is one of the largest civil demands made in the history of the Auditor’s Office,” White said in the press release. “We’re now turning this case over to the AG’s Office for enforcement to ensure accountability for taxpayers, and I hope they will litigate the case immediately.”
In its own press release, MTC claims it was in constant communication with the Mississippi Department of Corrections starting around 2020 or 2021, and MDOC “was fully aware and supported MTC’s plan to use available contract funds to increase wages, pay overtime, offer incentive bonuses, expand recruiting and retention efforts, and make capital improvements to ensure the facilities were safer and more secure.”
“Formal contract amendments did not always keep pace with urgent staffing and operational needs,” MTC alleged in its Monday press release. “During those periods, MTC and MDOC often addressed necessary changes through staffing plan adjustments and by using available contract funds for higher pay, incentives, recruitment, onboarding, training, and retention efforts. MDOC employees and onsite contract monitors were fully aware of the steps MTC was taking, knew of the funds MTC was reinvesting in staffing and operations, and reviewed and approved the staffing credit calculations included within each invoice submitted by MTC.
The press release said the State Auditor’s Office issued a demand letter to MTC in 2021 regarding the Marshall County Correctional Facility and alleged improper staffing credits. MTC claims an internal investigation determined it claimed fewer credits than originally alleged. MTC states it made a “good faith” payment to the State Auditor’s Office, which was accepted, and also made staffing credit payments to MDOC for the East Mississippi and Wilkinson County facilities. In total, MTC said it voluntarily paid $5.9 million to resolve the issues.
“Despite those payments, MOSA (auditor’s office) issued new demands against MTC relating to all three facilities in May 2025,” the MTC press release said. “MTC again worked to resolve discrepancies in MOSA’s calculations, providing documentation and engaging in further discussions. During that process, MOSA acknowledged errors in its own calculations and substantially reduced its demands. However, the revised demands continue to be unsupported by the documentation and include interest totaling more than $3.2 million resulting primarily from MOSA’s delays and re-calculations.”
MTC claims it offered an additional $4.5 million to the auditor’s office, which includes the principal the auditor’s office says MTC owes “plus reasonable interest and costs.” The company alleges the auditor’s office decided to reject MTC’s offer, instead issuing a press release. The issue will now face litigation, MTC said in its press release.
“When questions were raised regarding staffing deficiencies and vacancy deductions, MTC acted in good faith,” Michael Bell, vice president of MTC, said in a Monday press release. “We conducted our own review and voluntarily paid over $5.9 million. That’s what an honest partner does. It is deeply disappointing and fundamentally unfair to ignore our efforts to work with MDOC to address the staffing challenges we both face in operating correctional facilities.”
MTC will continue operating the East Mississippi Correctional Facility and the Wilkinson Correctional Facility, its press release said. It no longer works with the Marshall County Correctional Facility.
