Major Study of Mississippi Prison Programs is Underway JACKSON – Mississippi’s state prisons, inmates, and programs will be under a microscope for the next two years by two of the country’s leading research universities. The President of Pepperdine University, Jim Gash, and renowned criminal justice researcher, Dr. Byron Johnson at Baylor University, are teaming up to study MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain’s changes to Mississippi’s prisons. The intensive 2-year research project will include Gash, Jo