This presentation consists of a brief introduction of the current state of incarceration in America and Mississippi. Dr. Pickett will then share with the audience the long history of incarceration in Mississippi beginning with the institution of slavery, the first jails in Natchez and Jackson, the black codes and the convict lease system in the late nineteenth century. He will then describe the shift in the state’s history for prison reform to penitentiaries like Parchman at the turn of the twentieth century. Finally, he will examine incarceration and punishment through the Jim Crow era and the use of lynching, imprisonment during the Civil Rights movement and the modern day situation of private, for-profit prisons in Mississippi. He will then provide examples of ways in which we can begin to, as a society, rethink the prison space through discussing the creation and founding of the Prison to College Pipeline program. He will demonstrate that providing small investments in education has tremendous results in reducing recidivism, enhancing re-entry and lowering the violence level of incarcerated spaces. Introducing a humanities-driven curriculum meant to encourage, inspire and to bring hope and dignity to incarcerated men and women across the state will help this continue.
Dr. Pickett holds a Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of Mississippi and has taught history courses at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College, which included the institution of slavery, the convict lease system and the modern carceral state. He has also taught courses on the history and literature of the Civil Rights Movement at Parchman Mississippi State Penitentiary and the Central Correctional Facility.
