Pressure on Prisons Preview

The death toll in mississippi prisons is now 24.

Today the mississippi department of corrections announced the death of an imate in rankin county and another death at parchman.

Within the last hour, mdoc officials announced that a 45 year old inmate died this afternoon at the hospital inside parchan.

Sunflower county coroner heather burton says the inmate had been receiving treatment for a terminal illness.

Foul play is not suspected.

His name is not been released.

Meanwhile -- 62-year old grayland cox died at merit health central hospital in jackson tuesday night.

Mississippi department of corrections officials say cox was an inmate at the central mississippi correctional facility.

According to the statement from mdoc, no foul play is suspected.

An autopsy will be performed on both inmates to determine their cause of death.

Meanwhile a wanted escapee is back in custody in south mississippi.

Law enforcement captured 27- year old christopher epps this morning following his escape from the harrison county community work center in gulfport.

Prison leaders say epps is serving an 18 year sentence for burglary and grand larceny.

Up until now, we've only heard from those living outside prison walls.

But that changes tonight.

Coming up on wtva 9 news at ten, you'll hear from steven austin - a former state inmate.

He spent time in all three state facilities including unit 29 at parchman.

Austin spoke very candidly about the conditions in parchman and what he experienced inside prison.

Hear his story about life in lockup