PEARL, Miss. (WJTV) – Leaders with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) announced construction is now underway on a chapel at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Rankin County.

Commissioner Burl Cain was joined Friday by MDOC staff, supporters, and inmates who shoveled dirt toward the construction of a 6,400-square-foot interfaith chapel. The chapel is expected to be completed in February 2023.

The chapel, which will be located near the facility’s 720 unit, will hold religious services for up to 300 inmates at a time.

“This is a component of moral rehabilitation which is essential to having practical and honest re-entry. You must have the moral component. We can teach people skills and trades, but if we’re not careful, we just make a smarter criminal,” Cain said.

  • Commissioner Burl Cain with MDOC staff, supporters, and inmates ceremoniously tossed dirt officially kicking off construction of a chapel at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl. (Courtesy: MDOC)
  • MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain, left, welcomed attendees to the official groundbreaking of a chapel, and was joined by David McNair, , president of Mississippi Prison Chapel Foundation, Inc., and CMCF Superintendent Derrick Chambers. (Courtesy: MDOC)
  • Commissioner Burl Cain chatted with inmate Tara Lyle moments after the groundbreaking. (Courtesy: MDOC)
  • Commissioner Burl Cain visited with members of the Kairos prison ministry program. (Courtesy: MDOC)
  • Scenes of the construction site for a chapel at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl. The chapel is expected to be completed in February 2023. (Courtesy: MDOC)

The new chapel at CMCF is the first construction of seven chapels planned at MDOC facilities, all funded through private donations. Officials expect to return to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to resume efforts toward a chapel there after a delay, and then move toward a chapel for South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Greene County.