Rankin County, Mississippi

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county Rankin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The western border of the county is formed by the Pearl River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 157,031,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> making it the fourth-most populous county in Mississippi. The county seat is Brandon.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> The county is named in honor of Christopher Rankin, a Mississippi Congressman who served from 1819 to 1826.

Rankin County is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (3.8%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Adjacent counties

• Madison County (north)
• Scott County (east)
• Smith County (southeast)
• Simpson County (south)
• Hinds County (west)

Demographics

Rankin County racial composition as of 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	111,990	71.32%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	32,430	20.65%
Native American	255	0.16%
Asian	2,260	1.44%
Pacific Islander	94	0.06%
Other/Mixed	4,935	3.14%
Hispanic or Latino	5,067	3.23%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 157,031 people, 57,011 households, and 39,676 families residing in the county.

Transportation

Major highways

• File:I-20.svg Interstate 20
• File:I-55.svg Interstate 55
• File:US 80.svg U.S. Highway 80
• File:US 49.svg U.S. Highway 49
• File:Circle sign 13.svg Mississippi Highway 13
• File:Circle sign 18.svg Mississippi Highway 18
• File:Circle sign 25.svg Mississippi Highway 25
• File:Circle sign 43.svg Mississippi Highway 43
• File:Circle sign 149.svg Mississippi Highway 149
• File:Circle sign 468.svg Mississippi Highway 468
• File:Circle sign 469.svg Mississippi Highway 469
• File:Circle sign 471.svg Mississippi Highway 471
• File:Circle sign 475.svg Mississippi Highway 475
• File:Circle sign 477.svg Mississippi Highway 477
• File:Circle sign 481.svg Mississippi Highway 481

Airport

Jackson Evers International Airport is located in unincorporated Rankin County.

Government

The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) operates the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), located in unincorporated Rankin County.<ref name="Stateprisons">"State Prisons Template:Webarchive." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.</ref><ref>"MDOC QUICK REFERENCE." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.</ref> CMCF houses the state's female death row inmates.<ref name="Stateprisons"/> MDOC also operates the Brandon Probation and Parole Office in Brandon.<ref>"Rankin County." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.</ref> In 2007 the Mississippi Highway Patrol opened a driver's license facility across the highway from the prison.<ref>"New Driver's License Facility Opens In Pearl", WAPT-TV. April 23, 2007. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.</ref>

The Mississippi State Hospital of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health is in Whitfield in unincorporated Rankin County.<ref>"Whitfield Campus Map." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.</ref><ref>"Driving Directions to MSH." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.</ref> It occupies the former Rankin Farm prison grounds.<ref name="Move">Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940: Population. Bureau of the Census, 1941. 572. Retrieved on Google Books on August 12, 2011.</ref> In 1935, the Mississippi State Insane Asylum moved from a complex of 19th-century buildings in northern Jackson, the capital, to its existing location.<ref name="Cole331">Cole, Hunter. The Legs Murder Scandal. University Press of Mississippi. 331. Retrieved from Google Books on October 31, 2010. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref>

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality operates the Central Regional Office and the MDEQ Laboratory in unincorporated Rankin County.<ref>"Central Regional Office." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.</ref><ref name="MDEQOffices">"Locations and Driving Directions to MDEQ Offices." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.</ref>

Rankin County is one of the most conservative counties in the state, with Republican candidates normally receiving 70% or so of the popular vote. The county last supported the official Democratic candidate for president in 1956, which is also the last time a Democrat got even 40 percent of the county's vote. While conservative Democrats held most local offices well into the 1980s, there are almost no elected Democrats remaining above the county level.

Law enforcement

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety operates the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy (MLEOTA) on a Template:Convert property in Rankin County, near CMCF and the MSH, Template:Convert from Jackson.<ref>"Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy Template:Webarchive," Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Retrieved on April 16, 2012.</ref>

Department of Justice torture investigation

Template:Main In February 2023, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into conduct of the Rankin County Sheriffs department. The investigation is centered on a January 24, 2023, incident where deputies searched the house of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. Jenkins and Parker, both African-Americans, experienced six deputies turning-off their body cameras, torturing the men for two hours, shocking them with tasers, repeatedly shouting racial slurs, and shooting one of them in the mouth. All accused officers pled guilty and were convicted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2023, Jenkins and Parker filed a $400M lawsuit against Sheriff Bryan Bailey and six deputies. In late June, the Sheriff announced that some deputies involved had been terminated or resigned from their jobs, and that the department hired a "compliance officer" to monitor the Sheriff department's daily operations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web </ref> An investigation by the Associated Press determined that the Sheriff's Special Response Team had been involved in four violent incidents with African-Americans since 2019, resulting in two deaths.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Communities

Cities

• Brandon (county seat)
• Florence
• Flowood
• Jackson (mostly in Hinds County, also in Madison County)
• Pearl
• Richland

Towns

• Pelahatchie

Village

• Puckett

Census-designated places

• Cleary
• Robinhood

Other unincorporated communities

• Anse
• Cross Roads
• Fannin
• Goshen Springs
• Greenfield
• Gulde
• Johns
• Koch
• Langford
• Leesburg
• Monterey
• Piney Woods
• Pisgah
• Sand Hill
• Star
• Whitfield
• Woodlake

Former communities

• Comeby
• Dobson
• Lynwood

Education

Pearl Public School District and Rankin County School District are the two public school districts located in the county. The former serves the Pearl city limits, and the latter serves all other areas in Rankin County.<ref>Template:Cite web - Text list</ref>

Private schools located in the county are Hartfield Academy in Flowood, Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood, Park Place Christian Academy in Pearl, and East Rankin Academy in Pelahatchie.

Rankin County is in the district of Hinds Community College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college operates a Rankin Campus in Pearl.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Rankin County, Mississippi

External links

• The Rankin Chamber of Commerce
• Rankin County Genealogy and Historical Page
• Rankin County Website