Mukta Joshi, an investigative reporter with Mississippi Today, asked the public for tips as she begins a yearlong fellowship at The New York Times and shifts her reporting to immigration detention in Mississippi, she said.
Joshi said the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez is the second-largest ICE detention facility in the country and houses more than 2,000 detainees. She said Mississippi plays an outsized role in immigration enforcement despite having one of the smallest immigrant populations in the nation.
Joshi told readers that the federal government limits access to ICE detention centers, that they are not inspected as often as state prisons and that only immediate family members and attorneys are generally allowed to visit detainees.
She said the Natchez facility is owned and operated by the private company CoreCivic and, because it is private, is not covered by state public records laws. Joshi said she will investigate who is held there and how the detention center affects the local economy and community.
Joshi said she plans to publish updates every Friday morning on Mississippi Today’s website, social media and in the outlet’s Friday newsletter, beginning March 27. She asked anyone with information to contact her and said she will not use a submitter’s name without first contacting that person. She provided her X handle, @mukta_jo; a Signal contact, @mmj.2178; an email, mukta.joshi@nytimes.com; and a mailing address: PO Box 12267, Jackson, MS 39236.
