The Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall announced a new leader at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution (SMCI) in Leakesville.
60 year-old SMCI Deputy Warden Joe Errington has been appointed acting superintendent effective Monday evening.
Errington has spent his entire career with the MDOC at SMCI, starting as a correctional officer in March 1989. He has held several leadership positions over the years.
This decision was made after a convicted murdered escaped for two days from the prison and after an inmate’s mother said her son was set on fire by another prisoner who obtained gasoline and a homemade lighter.
SMCI is the newest of the three state prisons. With 3,042 inmates today, it also has the fewest inmates of the three institutions. It can hold up to 3,082 inmates.
