Note: This story was conducted in partnership with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship.

State Auditor Shad White has initiated an investigation into allegations that Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey used jail inmates to work on his family’s chicken farm south of Puckett, a representative of the auditor’s office confirmed Friday.

The confirmation followed the publication of an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times Thursday that revealed allegations by four former inmates and a former deputy that Bailey had for years supplemented the farm’s workforce with trusted jail inmates, called trusties, and used taxpayer-purchased equipment and resources to clear his family’s private land and otherwise improve the farm. 

“We’re all aware of the reporting,” said Jacob Walters, communications director for the state auditor. “We read the article, and Auditor White has ordered an investigation to begin yesterday morning, when we became aware of the story.” 

Walters also confirmed that the auditor’s office had alerted federal prosecutors of the allegations. 

FULL INVESTIGATION: ‘You’re His Property’: Embattled Mississippi sheriff used inmates and county resources for personal gain, former inmates and deputy say

Hours after the publication of the investigation Thursday, the attorney representing the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, Jason Dare, issued a statement to some local news outlets conceding that Bailey used trusties to work on his farm and explaining that chicken supplies the department had purchased using county funds were for chickens kept on jail grounds for inmates’ benefit. The statement stopped short of directly denying some other allegations in the investigation, including that Bailey and others used a $97,000 construction vehicle bought in 2019 with department funds to clear land on the farm. 

Neither the sheriff’s department nor the Rankin County Board of Supervisors, which oversees the department’s purchases using county funds, provided explanations of the purchases prior to publication, despite multiple interview requests over the past three months. Reporters sent detailed lists of purchases to the board and the sheriff’s department Monday seeking their response. 

Neither Bailey, nor Dare, nor county government officials responded to a request for comment for this story. 

Steph Quinn is a Roy Howard Fellow at Mississippi Today.

This story was published with the support of a grant from Columbia University’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights, in conjunction with Arnold Ventures, a nonprofit research foundation that supports journalism.

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