Death of inmate from Adams County causes all Mississippi prisons to be put on lockdown

Published 3:02 pm Tuesday, December 31, 2019

JACKSON (AP) — All state-run and private prisons in Mississippi have been put on lockdown as officials investigate a conflict that left an Adams County man and two others injured at a Mississippi prison.

Terrandance Dobbins, 40, an inmate at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Greene County, was killed Sunday. He was serving a life sentence for a 1998 homicide conviction in Adams County and eight years for aggravated assault in Sunflower County.

Dobbins died after a “major disturbance” at the prison Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Grace Simmons Fisher said in a statement Tuesday.

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Fisher said no staff members at the prison were hurt, but she could not provide other details about the disturbance because it is under investigation.

“Conditions at SMCI are under control,” she said.

Fisher said an autopsy will determine how Dobbins died

It’s not unusual for all Mississippi prisons to be put on lockdown after a disturbance at one.

Three state prisons, three private prisons and 15 regional jails were put on lockdown and movement has been restricted within them to protect the public, staff and inmates, Fisher said.

The lockdown will continue indefinitely as authorities investigate the death.