Chaplains from throughout the Mississippi Department of Corrections gathered at MTC’s East Mississippi Correctional Facility.

“We’re very fortunate to have you guys here today,” said Warden Frank Shaw, welcoming the distinguished guests.

The state chaplains meeting covered several topics including dealing with grief in a prison setting.  East Mississippi was honored to have been selected as the meeting place and was happy to show the facility to the great chaplains of Mississippi.

The State Chaplains Meeting covered several topics including dealing with grief in a prison setting.  East Mississippi was honored to have been selected as the meeting place, and was happy to show the facility to the great chaplains of Mississippi.

The chaplains meeting is just one of many ways the East Mississippi facility reaches out to the corrections community.  Another way is through the internship program with Mississippi State University.  Laura Coleman is currently a case manager at the facility who got her start as an MSU intern.

“It was me and another one of my classmates that both did our internships here together, and it was very smooth for us.  We didn’t have any issues with any of it.  As far as our field instructor, she didn’t think that we would love it as much as we did.  Because we always had something to talk about when we had class.  It was like ‘whoa, ya’ll are already doing stuff like this and ya’ll are learning all this information’, and, you know, they was still in their beginning phases and we were well ahead.  We were sitting in classes and being able to help facilitate.  So it was a great experience.  We got a chance to shadow a lot of the mental health counselors, and we got a chance to see everything, like with the drug and alcohol guys, so we got a chance to venture out into just about each area.  The internship is what made me make the choice to come here to work.”