University researchers begin to study Mississippi’s prison system

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Mississippi’s prison system will be under a microscope for the next two years by two of the nation’s leading research universities.

Jim Gash, Pepperdine’s president, and  Dr. Byron Johnson, a criminal justice researcher at Baylor are teaming up to study the changes made to the state’s prisons by Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain.

The research project will include meeting with inmates, corrections officers, and the Commissioner to see how re-entry and seminary programs are improving prisoners’ lives.

The research will be compared to Commissioner Cain’s previous work.

Cain’s programs were credited with making a complete turnaround with Louisiana’s Angola Prison, which had a violent reputation.