Mississippi is projected to increase spending on its prison system for the upcoming fiscal year, driven by higher costs for medical care and private prison payments, according to a top corrections budget official.
House Corrections Chairwoman Becky Currie announced Thursday that the legislature is considering a budget of more than $480 million for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, about $12 million more than this year. The largest portion covers a medical contract held by Kansas-based VitalCore Health Strategies, which is set to increase from $124 million to $133 million next year.
Currie has been critical of VitalCore, which received over $315 million in emergency, no-bid contracts from 2020 to 2024. The company has faced legal challenges and allegations of providing inadequate care, as highlighted in Mississippi Today’s investigation into prison health care.
In response, Currie successfully added an amendment to the budget requiring the department to solicit proposals for a new prison health contract in 2027. The measure would condition the department’s spending on conducting a request for proposals, opening the opportunity for other private providers or in-state hospitals to compete for the contract.
Currie initially suggested shifting contract awarding authority from the Mississippi Department of Corrections to the Department of Finance and Administration, but legislative attorneys warned that approach might not pass legal muster. Other increases in corrections funding include over $2 million in payments to private prisons and $443,000 in unpaid utilities for Walnut Grove Correctional Facility.
Currie also aims to require the department to report on expenditures from the Inmate Welfare Fund. She found seven linked bank accounts containing about $32 million, but said she could only access one and had difficulty tracing the funds, raising questions about how the money is spent. The budget now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
