Reeves introduces new MDOC and MDPS commissioners

Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. appeared on Gov. Tate Reeves’ daily Facebook live update Wednesday to welcome two new commissioners to Mississippi state posts.

Reeves focus Wednesday was to update Mississippians on what his office has been doing other than working to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 crisis.

In January, Reeves named Flaggs to head up the search committee to find a replacement to lead the troubled Mississippi Department of Corrections after former Commissioner Pelice Hall resigned at the end of 2019. Beginning in December 2019, Mississippi prisons were the scene of gang violence and multiple deaths just as Reeves took office.

“More than just funding or politics or anything else, Mississippi’s prison system had a leadership crisis,” Reeves said.

The person selected by the committee, Burl Cain, was also on the dais, celebrating his first day on the job. Cain is the former warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in Louisiana. He served there for 21 years, from January 1995 until his resignation in 2016.

Reeves characterized Cain as “the legendary warden who transformed Angola from ‘America’s bloodiest prison’ to a model of faith-based reform,” in a Facebook post.

“To do the full component of what’s essential to have a good prison is good food, good praying, good playing and good medicine,” Cain said. “We have to have those four components, and that’s going to balance it out.

Flaggs thanked the governor for his leadership, and then added his endorsement of the new MDOC commissioner.

“I was overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted this job,” Flaggs said, “and this committee looked at every application and every situation facing us in this crisis situation as it relates to the Department of Corrections.”

“I know of no person who was in that application pool or in this country who can do what this man can do given the opportunity,” he added.

Reeves also introduced the new commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, Sean Tindell.

Tindell has been a judge in the Mississippi Court of Appeals since 2017, when he was appointed by former Gov. Phil Bryant. He is a former assistant district attorney and a state senator.

“I look forward to the opportunity to serve the state of Mississippi,” Tindell said.

“As with any organization, it takes everyone from top to bottom, to develop a culture of excellence. … In order to achieve the excellence required of us, there can be no room for big egos and grandstanding,” he added, “It simply will not be tolerated.”