Jackson_County_Arkansas_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Newport_Highlighted_0549580

McPherson Unit is a prison for women of the

Arkansas Department of Correction 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, t ...

, 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, Michael.
They Kill Women, Don't They?
''Arkansas Times''. April 9, 1999. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. The unit houses a campus of the Riverside Vocational Technical School. Originally it 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 ...

), with the management contract beginning in July 1997. In 2001, after operating the McPherson Unit and the nearby Grimes Unit 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.

Notable prisoners

Death Row * Christina Marie Riggs – Executed May 2, 2000. Non-Death Row * Leslie MacKool - Serving life without the possibility of parole.

References

External links

McPherson Unit
-

{{coord, 35, 37, 33, N, 91, 11, 27, W, scale:10000, display=title Prisons in Arkansas Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Arkansas Capital punishment in Arkansas 1998 establishments in Arkansas GEO Group Newport, Arkansas