Utah private prison company returns $5M to Mississippi after understaffing is found at facilities

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Auditor Shad White says a private prison company has returned $5.1 million to the Mississippi Department of Corrections for failing to provide enough workers at prisons it was operating. White said on Monday that Utah-based Management & Training Corporation sent the money to the department last week. The auditor’s office found MTC failed to provide enough workers to ensure the safety of inmates and prison employees, but the company was still paid by the state as if it had. MTC’s communications director says the company voluntarily sent the $5.1 million to the state after doing its own audit of operations at East Mississippi Correctional Center and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.