Phil Bryant: state will rebid all contracts with firms involved in Epps indictment
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Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, center, and his attorney John Colette, right, leave the federal courthouse after an arraignment hearing in Jackson Thursday. Epps, who resigned abruptly this week, has been charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a Rankin County businessman connected to several private prison companies. Thursday afternoon, Gov. Phil Bryant announced all contracts involving firms mentioned in the Epps indictment will be rebid.
The Associated Press/Joe Ellis
Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, center, and his attorney John Colette, right, leave the federal courthouse after an arraignment hearing in Jackson Thursday. Epps, who resigned abruptly this week, has been charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a Rankin County businessman connected to several private prison companies. Thursday afternoon, Gov. Phil Bryant announced all contracts involving firms mentioned in the Epps indictment will be rebid. The Associated Press/Joe Ellis
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said Thursday afternoon the state will rebid contracts with all firms mentioned in an indictment of former Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps.
Spokesman Knox Graham said Thursday that Bryant instructed interim Corrections Commissioner Richard McCarty to stop negotiations with Utah-based Management and Training Corp. over renewing a $60-million-a-year contract to manage four private prisons with 4,000-plus inmates.
Two of MTC’s four prisons have been sued for inmate mistreatment.
Graham says Bryant was unaware of alleged misconduct when he reappointed Epps in 2012, though the FBI had been investigating Epps since 2010.
Bryant received a $1,000 campaign contribution from Brandon businessman Cecil McCrory, alleged to have provided more than $1 million in bribes to Epps. Graham says Bryant will donate the money to the Salvation Army.
Two people are facing charges in connection with a pipe bomb found during a routine search of a vehicle at the state prison in Greene County during visitation over the weekend.
“We don’t believe the pipe bomb was intended for the prison, nor do we believe the inmate whom they were planning to visit had knowledge of it,” said Sean K. Smith, director of the Corrections Investigation Division of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. “We are fortunate that we found the device during a routine search of the visitors’ vehicle. They never got past the secure entrance gate off the highway.”
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents were notified, arrived and took possession of the device, which was later disposed of without incident. […]
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JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Gov. Phil Bryant has created a task force to recommend ways to strengthen efforts in Mississippi to combat human trafficking. Bryant says in a news release Tuesday that he expects to […]
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SCHOOL FUNDING AMENDMENT Bryant asks court to reject rewording of initiative ballot JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Gov. Phil Bryant says no court should have the power to reword how the Legislature phrased its version of […]
