Inside World (1951)

Inside World was a monthly magazine written by prisoners in the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman). This magazine was used to provide a way for the prisoners to express themselves and reflect on their thoughts while in prison. It was also used to spread information of general interest around the prison and promote discussion between the prisoners. All inmates were allowed to contribute to the magazine, and each issue consisted of an original illustrations, poems, editorials, comics, articles, statistics, and more.

Parchman Penitentiary was modeled after an antebellum slave plantation. It had three founding principles: the prison had to profit at any cost, having the inmates as guards was effective and low-cost, and corporal punishment was acceptable for controlling the inmates. After building the prison on these three principles, the Penitentiary had a history of failed reforms.

The prison was established in 1901 and opened in 1905, but it was a source of statewide shame and frustration because of its use of a convict leasing system. Leasing is where the prisoners would be leased to wealthy contractors who would then sublease them to companies to do the dirty work that free laborers would not want to do. The inmates that were leased worked long hours with no pay, were poorly fed, and slept in tents at dangerous sites.

The prison began with four stockades that housed the prisoners who cleared and farmed the land and built facilities. Each camp had a sleeping area, kitchen, and dining hall where inmates were assigned according to their primary jobs. Each camp had one guard who would live there. This person was typically a trusty – a prisoner who had the authority to guard fellow inmates. Prisoners worked six days a week starting at 6:00 on the morning.

Within the prison, life was difficult. Upon arrival, the prisoners were stripped of their clothes and were outfitted with one pair of pants, a jacket, shoes, a hat, and one blanket. They were only given other items if there were relatives in the area who could bring them. The cells were not heated, and the only source of heat was one small woodburning stove in the corner of the cell house that warmed all the cells. Each cell had a small window that the wind would whistle in through. Because of the inadequate heating, prisoners would die from pneumonia and some were frostbitten. In order to keep themselves warm, the prisoners would pace around their cells at night on top of working long, grueling hours during the day. Although the living situation was rough, the inmates reportedly were adequately fed. The living conditions were said to have "met the needs of survival."

Over one hundred years after Parchman Penitentiary opened, the prison is still running. The leasing system is gone, but the other difficult aspects still stand. The inmates at Parchman still work in the same fields that old inmates once worked on, and the conditions of the prison have been shown to be unsanitary.

Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi has select issues of Inside World from 1949-1981. To view the items, visit Special Collections in McCain Library & Archives room 305. The library is open Monday-Friday from 9-4. For questions about the title, contact Jennifer Brannock at Jennifer.Brannock@usm.edu.

This Item of the Month was written in 2024 by Sylvia White, a sophomore conservation biology major.

**Items of the Month featured in 2024-2026 will be the work of Southern Miss students who took HON 303, a seminar held in Fall 2024 focusing on archives and special collections.