Jackson_County_Arkansas_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Newport_Highlighted_0549580

The Grimes Unit is a medium- and maximum-security state prison for men located in Newport,

Jackson County, Arkansas Jackson County is located in the Arkansas Delta in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The county is named for Andrew Jackson, a national hero during the War of 1812. By the county's formation in 1829, Jackson had become the seventh President of the Uni ...

, owned and operated by the

Arkansas Department of Corrections The Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC), formerly the Arkansas Department of Correction, is the state law enforcement agency that oversees inmates and operates state prisons within the U.S. state of Arkansas. DOC consists of two divisions, th ...

. The facility was opened in 1998 and has a capacity of 1,012 inmates held at medium and maximum security. Like the adjacent

McPherson Unit McPherson Unit is a prison for women of the Arkansas Department of Correction, located in Newport, Arkansas, off Arkansas Highway 384, east of central Newport. Established in 1998, the prison houses the state's death row for women.Haddigan, ...

for female inmates, originally Grimes was managed by the Wackenhut Corrections Corp. (now

GEO Group The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...

), beginning in July 1997. In 2001, after operating both at losses, Wackenhut stated that it would not renew the contract.WACKENHUT TO GET OUT OF PRISON CONTRACTS
" ''Miami Herald''. February 17, 2001. 1C Business. Retrieved on March 7, 2011.

References

External links

Grimes Unit, Arkansas Department of Corrections
{{State prisons in Arkansas Prisons in Arkansas Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Arkansas 1998 establishments in Arkansas Newport, Arkansas