Warden Jody Bradley of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility is Retiring

Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall Sends Letter Congratulating Him on Retirement and the Work of the Anne Moody History Project

By Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D.

Chaplain, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility
Copyright (c) 2019

#AnneMoody

Chandra Berryman, director of Private and Regional Prisons for the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), presents Warden Jody Bradley with a letter from MDOC Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall congratulating him on his retirement and the community service of the Anne Moody History Project. Bradley is retiring after three and a half years of service as warden of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) in Woodville, Miss. He has over 30 years of experience in corrections. 

---------------------------------------

WOODVILLE, Miss. -- Chandra Berryman, director of Private and Regional Prisons for the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), recently presented Warden Jody Bradley with a letter from Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall congratulating him on his retirement and the community service of the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP).

Berryman presented the letter on Thursday, Jan. 3, at a surprise retirement breakfast held for Bradley by his staff at Wilkinson Country Correctional Facility (WCCF), Woodville, Miss.

Bradley is retiring after three and a half years of service as warden of WCCF. He has over 30 years of experience in corrections.

In her letter dated Jan. 2, 2019, Hall noted Bradley has “faithfully served” his facility and community for several years. “Your extensive training and teaching background have been positives for both the facility and the community,” she wrote. “I appreciate your commendable involvement with the community.”

She also commended him and his staff for their work on civil rights pioneer Anne Moody, who lived in Wilkinson County.

“Your strong community ties were instrumental in Wilkinson’s successful efforts to rekindle and ignite interest in Mississippi’s celebrated author Anne Moody,” Hall wrote. “A section of Mississippi Highway 24 known as ‘Anne Moody Memorial Highway’ ensures that her name will be remember for generations to come not only because of her book, Coming of Age in Mississippi.”

WCCF also led efforts to have a day and street named in Moody’s honor. Her birthday, September 15, was proclaimed “Anne Moody Day” in her hometown of Centreville in 2017. The Centreville town officials also renamed Fort Street, “Anne Moody Street.” In May 2018, WCCF welcomed a visit by officials from the state’s Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH).

Moody, who died in 2015 at the age of 74, was born and raised in Wilkinson County. Bradley said the work on her history was done through the facility’s Anne Moody History Project (AMHP), a community service endeavor created by WCCF staff to promote and help preserve the legacy of Moody.

Hall noted: “The various activities related to the Anne Moody History Project cement Moody’s place in Mississippi’s history thanks to you and the Wilkinson staff.”

Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall of the Mississippi Department of Correction (MDOC) wrote this letter to congratulate Warden Jody Bradley of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) on his retirement. She praised him for his work and for the achievements of the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP), a staff-led community service endeavor created to honor civil rights pioneer Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi. Moody, who died in 2015 at the age of 74, was born and raised in Wilkinson County.

----------------------------------
ROSCOE BARNES III, Ph.D., is a writer, chaplain, historian, and former newspaper reporter. He is the author of more than a dozen books and Gospel tracts. For more information about his work and history, see his Personal Profile here or visit his website: http://www.roscoebarnes.net. Connect with him on Twitter (@roscoebarnes3) or by email: roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com.