Cecil McCrory (born December 1, 1951) is a former Mississippi state legislator, justice court judge, Rankin County school board president and businessman. His indictment was made public in November 2014 for corruption related to his dealings with prison industry contractors. It was later revealed that he had become an informant in the investigation, along with his partner in crime, ex-Commissioner of Corrections in Mississippi, Chris Epps. Epps was sentenced to 235 months and McCrory to 102 months in federal prison. Both men were fined and ordered to pay restitution. McCrory is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution, Talladega, Alabama, with a scheduled release date of April 24, 2025.
Personal
With only a high school education, McCrory, from Brandon, Mississippi, became a Justice Court judge, in 1980. Four years later, he became an investigator with the Rankin County sheriff's office. In 1987, he was elected to the state legislature. He lost reelection to a third term in 1995. In 1996, Cecil became a lobbyist. In 1997, he began making payments to Epps, and MDOC manager. In 2000, he became a Rankin County Supervisor, though he only held the office for five months. In 2002, he partnered with Sam Waggoner, who became involved in the MDOC corruption schemes. In 2005, he started G.T. Enterprises of Mississippi, and won the MDOC's commissary services contract. Four months later, he sold that business at a substantial profit to Keefe Commissary Network. In 2008, he became a Rankin County School Board member, a position he held until he resigned when his indictment became public in November 2014.
Cecil and his wife, Janice had two children: Joshua and Courtney. In 2000, the car in which Courtney was riding was hit by an inebriated trucker, and she was killed. As a result, in 2009, the McCrory family was awarded $3,333,189 in damages. Josh became a justice court judge.
As an attorney Josh became counsel in numerous corrections-related lawsuits, defending East Mississippi State Prison, representing MDOC prisoners against Wackenhut, Keefe Commissary, and other cases.
Criminal conspiracies
G.T. Enterprises, which held a no-bid Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) contract for inmate services, beginning in 2006, was owned by Cecil McCrory. It had revenues of over $3.2 million in gross revenue in 2007 and 2008, through MDOC. McCrory sold the company to Keefe Commissary Network in November 2008 from which it earned over $40.4 million. The Keefe contract was renewed several times and was due to expire in August 2015. The contracts were signed by then-Commissioner Chris Epps. Keefe processed inmate deposits and inmate trust funds, and sales of prepaid debit cards. The contract also had given GT the right to sell commissary products at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility which McCrory's management company also operated. The company withheld 20% and 24% exclusive of sales tax from gross sales to inmates. The amount increased to 28% in 2007. Cecil McCrory also owned prisoner telephone providers Correctional Communications Inc and Mississippi Correctional Communications, Inc. The registered agent for both companies was Sam Waggoner III. Epps resigned as commissioner MDOC on November 5, 2014, during the federal investigation and the day before he and McCrory were indicted on federal charges of bribery and kickbacks. Epps had received what may have been more than $2 million in bribes from Cecil McCrory and others. McCrory had most recently been a consultant for Management and Training Corporation (MTC) of Utah, a major for-profit prison operating company; at the time, it had a $60 million contract in Mississippi to operate four prisons.
In February 2017, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced he had filed civil cases for damages and punitive damages against 11 corporations and individuals who had engaged in contracts with the MDOC and Epps. He said that state law required the companies and consultants to pay back the value of their contracts.