East Mississippi Correctional Facility Inmate Search

East Mississippi Correctional Facility Overview

East Mississippi Correctional Facility is listed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections as a private facility at 10641 US Hwy 80 West in Meridian. MDOC's facility page names Mike Dixon as Warden and gives the facility phone as 601-485-5255. Although it sits in Lauderdale County, EMCF is not operated as the Lauderdale County jail and should not be searched through the sheriff's current inmate roster.

The facility holds sentenced Mississippi state prisoners in MDOC custody, including a special-needs or mental-health prison population described in research and historical reporting. The working lookup rule is simple: a county booking number belongs to the jail record, while an MDOC ID number belongs to the state-prison record. A person may appear on the Lauderdale County roster after arrest, disappear after release, bond, transfer, or sentence execution, and later appear in the MDOC search system if placed in state custody.

The image below links to the official MDOC facility page for East Mississippi Correctional Facility at mdoc.ms.gov/facilities/east-mississippi-correctional-facility.

Use the MDOC page for the facility's official address, phone, warden, and type, then use the MDOC inmate search for a prisoner's custody record.

East Mississippi Correctional Facility Capacity and Population

Historical population figures for EMCF come from state and correctional-population sources, not the county jail roster. The Prison Policy Initiative/BJS correctional population table lists East Mississippi Correctional Facility as a private facility with 1,360 prisoners on June 30, 2012. An MDOC 2017 shakedown release described EMCF as able to hold up to 1,500 inmates and reported a population of 1,144 on the referenced Friday. Those figures are useful capacity and history markers, but they are not a current live count.

Do not compare these state-prison figures directly to the Lauderdale County Detention Facility's current roster count. LCDF's roster is a local jail snapshot for pretrial and short-term custody. EMCF's figures describe a sentenced prison facility in MDOC custody, and a prison's operational population can change with classification, transfers, bed availability, and agency decisions.

How to Look Up an Inmate at East Mississippi Correctional Facility

The correct search channel for EMCF is the Mississippi Department of Corrections inmate search. The MDOC search page says to enter the name or the ID number and then click search. Its documented fields are Search Criteria, Last Name, First Name, and MDOC ID Number. Use the Lauderdale County sheriff roster only for people booked into the county detention facility, not for sentenced prisoners housed at EMCF.

1. Open the MDOC inmate search and choose Name or ID Number as the search criterion.
2. Search by last name and first name, or enter the MDOC ID number if available from court, prison, or family paperwork.
3. Confirm that the result shows MDOC custody and the correct facility or location before relying on it for contact planning.
4. Use the MDOC facility page, VINE, or direct facility phone line for custody notification, visiting, and facility-specific questions.

Mississippi VINE is also available at vinelink.vineapps.com/state/MS/ENGLISH for custody and criminal-case notification. MDOC's SAVIN/VINE information says users may register through VINE, call the Office of MS SAVIN at 601-359-5759 during business hours, call 1(888)9-MSSAVIN for 24-hour assistance, or use TTY assistance at 866-847-1298.

East Mississippi Correctional Facility Address and Contact

MDOC lists East Mississippi Correctional Facility at 10641 US Hwy 80 West, Meridian, MS 39307, with phone 601-485-5255. The facility is in Lauderdale County, but it is separate from the sheriff's office and the county detention center. Calling the sheriff jail line may help with a recent local booking or transfer question, but it is not the facility contact for someone already in MDOC custody at EMCF.

For people under community supervision rather than confinement, MDOC also lists a Lauderdale Probation & Parole Office at 1920 6th Street, Meridian, MS 39301, phone 601-693-4713. That office is not EMCF and is not a jail, but it can be relevant to probation or parole holds, reentry, and supervision questions after release.

Visiting Someone at East Mississippi Correctional Facility

Use MDOC family and friends rules for East Mississippi Correctional Facility, not Lauderdale County jail visitation rules. MDOC's family/friends material states that prison visitors are subject to search of the person, vehicle, personal property, and any items possessed while on prison grounds. Prison visitation typically requires approval, scheduling, facility-specific confirmation, valid identification, and compliance with dress, property, and contraband rules.

The public research for this build did not locate a facility-specific open visiting schedule table for EMCF. Because state-prison visiting status can change by housing unit, security need, lockdown, medical restriction, or approval status, call the facility and use MDOC's current family/friends instructions before travel.

Mail, Phone, and Money at East Mississippi Correctional Facility

Mail, phone, package, and money rules for EMCF are state-prison rules. Do not use Lauderdale County jail vendors, jail mailing instructions, Kimble's Commissary, LCDF lobby kiosks, or county tablet/video rules for a sentenced prisoner at EMCF unless MDOC or the facility separately confirms that they apply. The research did not locate a specific EMCF mail-format table or fee schedule, so the safest path is to use MDOC's family/friends instructions and call the facility before sending funds, packages, or sensitive documents.

A county booking number is not enough for prison mail or money decisions. Try to confirm the person's full committed name, MDOC ID number, current facility, and any housing or status requirement before sending anything. If the person is not visible in MDOC search but was recently sentenced in Lauderdale County, check whether transfer, classification, or data entry is still pending.

Prison Admission and Classification at East Mississippi Correctional Facility

EMCF does not perform the same public booking function as the Lauderdale County Detention Facility. A person enters the county jail after arrest, but a person reaches EMCF through the state corrections system after sentencing, transfer, classification, or MDOC placement. That means the public record trail often starts with a county jail booking and court case, then moves into MDOC custody after the sentence is executed.

For a recent Lauderdale County arrest, start with the sheriff roster chooser and court records until the person is sentenced or transferred. For a sentenced person, start with MDOC search by name or MDOC ID number. If the person was arrested federally, the BOP locator may not show a pretrial detainee before federal designation, and U.S. Marshals custody in the Southern District of Mississippi may be involved. If immigration custody is the issue, use the ICE locator rather than the county jail or MDOC prison search.

About East Mississippi Correctional Facility

East Mississippi Correctional Facility is part of Lauderdale County's broader custody map because it is located in Meridian, but its operating context is state prison, not local jail. MDOC lists it as a private facility, while county jail pages focus on LCDF. That distinction is important for families trying to interpret online records: sheriff roster cards can show a county booking photo, charge, bond, and booking number, while MDOC records are designed around state custody, MDOC ID numbers, prison placement, and sentence-related status.

Historical conditions reporting and litigation have described EMCF as a major prison-conditions site tied to special-needs and mental-health custody. The current facility page should be read first for official present-day contact facts because it lists the warden, address, phone, and facility type. Older litigation or news context can explain why the facility is known statewide, but it should not replace MDOC's current facility information when planning a visit, sending money, or locating a specific prisoner.

Lauderdale County has no official BOP prison or ICE detention center identified in the research. Federal inmates should be searched through the BOP inmate locator, and immigration detainees through ICE's detainee locator. Those systems do not work like the county jail roster, and ICE public search does not publish county-style mugshots.