The Mississippi Department of Corrections, MDOC, publishes its Inmate Search, which takes a first and last name or an MDOC ID number and runs on the state's ms.gov service. The department's FAQ sends anyone asking how much time an inmate has left to the same search, with the detail of credits coming from the inmate or the case manager, since staff confirm only an inmate's current location, release eligibility and other general information to people who are not on the inmate's approved contact list or social admissions record, a list the inmate controls through a case manager and which is separate from the visiting list.
A result places a person in one of three kinds of prison. The department's seven state facilities and its community work centers, restitution centers and technical violation centers follow the rules on its pages; the 15 regional facilities are operated under county administrations and the two private prisons may use different vendors and practices, so the department tells families to check with those facilities directly. A person in a county jail before trial is the sheriff's record, found through the Mississippi county pages.
- Search: the MDOC Inmate Search by name or ID number; staff give non family callers only the location and general release eligibility.
- Where: reception at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman for northern counties, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility near Pearl for central ones and the South Mississippi Correctional Institution near Leakesville for the south, then a permanent assignment; the facilities map lists every state, regional and private prison with its address and phone.
- Money: the department is cashless; since November 30, 2016 deposits go only online through Premier Services, at 601-326-2590 with a zero in front of the MDOC number, or in person at a Western Union agent, and regional facilities may use another service.
- Visits: the inmate sends the Application for Visiting Privileges, keeps a list of 10 reviewed each year, and no form is online, emailed or mailed by the department; five visitors at a time, picture ID at 16 and a birth certificate for younger children.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Mississippi's own systems: the Mississippi Department of Corrections Inmate Search, the Inmate Search form on ms.gov, the department's Frequently Asked Questions, the department's Visiting an Inmate page, the department's Facilities Map, the department's Sending Mail to an Inmate page, the department's Phone Correspondence page, the department's Sending Money to an Inmate page, the department's SAVIN VINE Notifications page, the Victim Notification Request on ms.gov, the department's Current Death Row Demographics page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Reception, classification and the facilities
A new state inmate is searched, given clean clothing, a haircut for men, a shower and a picture ID card, fingerprinted and inventoried, and evaluated by the classification, mental health, medical and education departments before placement in close custody until permanent housing is set, a process of two weeks to 45 days during which there are no visits and only limited calls while the inmate builds the telephone and visiting lists.
Custody levels are minimum community, minimum non community, medium and close, set on public safety first, then the safety of staff and inmates, then institutional needs, with offense, sentence, age, escape history and behavior weighed. The facilities map lists the central office at 301 North Lamar Street, Jackson, 601-359-5600; the state prisons, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and the Mississippi Correctional Institute for Women at 3794 MS Hwy 468, Pearl, 601-932-2880, the Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood, the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs, the Mississippi State Penitentiary on MS Hwy 49 West, Parchman, 662-745-6611, the South Mississippi Correctional Institution at Leakesville, 601-394-5600, and the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility; the 15 regional facilities, from Alcorn County in Corinth to Yazoo; the two private prisons, the East Mississippi Correctional Facility in Meridian and the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville; the community work centers at Flowood, Hattiesburg, Canton, Macon, Magnolia, Lambert and Woodville, with the Flowood and Forrest County centers running the Recidivism Reduction Program; the restitution centers at Flowood, Canton and Pascagoula; the technical violation centers; and a probation and parole office in each county.
Transfers are made at the department's discretion on classification, space, level of care and eligibility, a request to move closer to family goes through the case manager with no deadline and no guarantee, and the FAQ says convenience transfers do not fit the housing criteria.
Mail: copies, not originals
Because of contraband, an inmate does not receive mail on the original paper: everything the inmate may have, photographs included, is photocopied with clear images of the letter and envelope, and the original is kept 14 calendar days and then shredded. Mail must arrive in a legal or letter envelope, addressed to the inmate's name and MDOC number, current housing unit and the institution's name and address, with the sender's name and address, and the inmate decides whether to answer.
All mail is searched and censored only for contraband, criminal plans, weapon or drug instructions, blackmail, coded content or plans against department rules; outgoing legal mail is sealed by the offender and opened only if an inspection suggests contraband. Polaroids, nude photos, metal, glass, hard plastic or wood, money orders or their receipts, packages, cassettes and discs, hardback books, food, hygiene and medical items and stamps are not accepted, and writing materials come from the canteen.
Publications must be prepaid soft cover books, up to three per order, or subscriptions sent by the publisher, distributor or vendor, a facility may suspend third party vendor deliveries after a contraband breach, and the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility accepts no books or magazines from outside sources at all.
Calls and money
The telephone provider offers calls, text and messaging at the state operated and private facilities: ConnectNetwork handles telephone service and ViaPath, the same company, handles text and messaging on prison issued tablets. New accounts are opened at 877-650-4249 or online, the Advance Pay prepaid service has an automated line at 1-800-483-8314 around the clock for new accounts, card payments and balances, and the customer service center keeps business hours Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday 8 to 5 Central; the 15 regional prisons may use a different company.
The department runs a cashless system with funds managed through inmate banking, and since November 30, 2016 money transfers are accepted only online through Premier Services or in person at a Western Union agent location; for an inmate in a department institution Premier Services answers at 601-326-2590, its site needs a zero before the MDOC number, and a regional facility may use its own service. Canteen purchases depend on behavior and custody level, the canteen list changes quarterly, an inmate still in classification may receive only hygiene items, and released inmates receive their funds at once, never as cash.
Visiting
Visitation is a privilege for both sides, and the department tells applicants to wait for confirmation before planning a trip or buying a plane ticket. The inmate obtains the Application for Visiting Privileges from a case manager and sends it; the applicant completes every part and mails it to the address in the package, a parent or guardian applying for a minor; applicants are not told automatically and may call the facility; forms are not online and the department neither emails nor mails them.
Each inmate keeps a list of ten visitors reviewed annually, immediate family stay on it permanently while others expire unless renewed, and a family member whose name, address or driver's license changes must send the updated form and license copy to the facility's visitation coordinator or risk being turned away and starting over. A visitor may see one inmate only unless immediate family of another, with proof such as a certified marriage license and the place and officiant of the ceremony; people on probation or parole visit only with a verified family relationship and the superintendent's written approval, convicted felons only as immediate family with written permission shown at every visit, former employees only with the superintendent's permission, and a victim only with the superintendent's advance written approval.
No more than five persons including children may visit at once, everyone 18 and over carries a driver's license, state ID or passport, every visitor 16 or older needs a photo ID showing date of birth and a place on the approved list, children 15 and under bring a birth certificate, and an infant's diaper bag may hold four diapers, two bottles, one change of clothes, a pacifier and wipes. Prescribed medication is left with the Visitor Center Officer and retrieved at dose time, medication that must stay on the person needs the Area Warden's written approval on a doctor's statement, and no over the counter medicine comes in.
The dress code requires shirts, closed shoes and underwear, shorts to the knee, skirts no more than an inch above it, no tank tops, bare midriffs, see through clothing, head coverings other than religious ones, or jewelry beyond a wedding ring and a medical bracelet, and applies to children. On the day, personal keys, wallets and phones stay locked in the vehicle, visitors register at the processing center, may be searched or scanned, and ride or walk to a cafeteria style contact visit or a non contact visit; everyone on the grounds is subject to search, drug detection dogs may be at any prison, and tobacco stays in the car.
Release, parole and Earned Release Supervision
The case manager notifies the inmate of the release date and arranges travel, with a bus ticket bought to the destination or the nearest city inside Mississippi but never out of state; the release process takes 30 to 45 days and ends with a discharge certificate. Parole and Earned Release Supervision dates are not guaranteed: the Mississippi State Parole Board, separate from the department, has sole authority to grant, deny or revoke parole, and the department's Records Division decides ERS on eligibility and institutional records, weighing conduct history, program participation, severity of offense, victim and community opposition, time served and gang activity.
House arrest belongs to the circuit courts, which the department's agents only supervise. An inmate charged with a rule violation gets a Rule Violation Report with 24 hours' notice of a hearing and faces extra duty, loss of privileges or earned time, reclassification or restrictive housing, and complaints go through the Administrative Remedy Program, which is confidential to the inmate. Medical care starts with a Medical Services Request Form and a $6 co-pay under Mississippi Code section 47-5-179, waived for chronic conditions, mental health, emergencies, follow ups and screenings and never a bar to care, and section 47-7-4 allows conditional medical release for an incapacitating or terminal condition, generally less than six months to a year to live.
SAVIN notifications and the victim's rights
The Office of Mississippi SAVIN, the Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification service, lets anyone register anonymously at vinelink.com or through the office at (601) 359-5759 in business hours, with a 24 hour representative at 1-888-9-MSSAVIN in English and Spanish and TTY at (866) 847-1298, for notices of transfers, return from abscond, escape and release, from county jails as well as state custody, and its Registration Link carries a county jail registration over when the person moves into MDOC custody.
A direct victim registers instead with the Division of Victim Services, which adds the SAVIN service, and the victim notification request on ms.gov states the rights: notice within 15 days before the end of a sentence, of release on expiration or medical release, within 15 days after a death in custody, of any escape and recapture, of release on an appeal bond, and the right to submit a recorded or written statement before parole, pardon or community status is considered.
Death row
The department's death row demographics page counts 35 people, 34 men and one woman, 23 Black and 10 white among them, with 26 convicted of capital murder and 9 of murder. Their average age is 50.4 years, the youngest is Terry Pitchford at 39 and the oldest Roger Thorson at 67; the average time on death row is 22.4 years, the longest James Billiot's 42 years and the shortest Martez Tarrell Abram's 2 years. The last execution was Charles Ray Crawford, 59, on October 15, 2025 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
As of June 25, 2025 the page compared the row with its neighbors: Alabama 155, Louisiana 56, Tennessee 45, Mississippi 35 and Arkansas 23.
Reading a Mississippi result
A search result gives the inmate's location, and the location decides the rules: a state prison follows the department's pages, a regional or private prison may run its own phone vendor, deposit service and visiting schedule, and a jail is the sheriff's. The MDOC number carries the mail, the Premier Services deposit and the visiting application, and the release date the inmate hears from a case manager is firmer than any parole or ERS eligibility date.
Questions about finding an inmate in Mississippi
Related Mississippi records
The Inmate Search is one of the Mississippi records this site covers: the Mississippi arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the court records guide covers the circuit and chancery clerks, the sex offender registry guide covers the Department of Public Safety registry, and the Mississippi county pages list each sheriff and jail.