From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Clark Collection. Letter from M. G. Moore, the warden of the Alabama Penitentiary at Wetumpka, Alabama, to Alabama Governor Thomas H. Watts, reporting on the prisoners from Mississippi whom the Alabama Penitentiary is temporarily holding. Then-Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus ordered that these prisoners be transferred from the Mississippi State Penitentiary to Alabama in 1863 through an agreement with then-Alabama Governor John G. Shorter. M. G. Moore's letter consists of handwritten copies of correspondence between Pettus, Shorter, Moore, and the Alabama Penitentiary board of inspectors regarding the transfer of the Mississippi prisoners as well as questions about the legality of Shorter's right to accept the prisoners and whether they can require the prisoners to perform labor. Moore intersperses brief explanations about these circumstances and his own actions throughout the letter. Appended to the letter is a receipt for prisoner-related expenses.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Clark Collection. Letter from Mississippi Attorney General T. J. Wharton at Jackson, Mississippi, to Mississippi Governor Charles Clark, concerning the legality of having a temporary penitentiary outside the limits of the state. Wharton elaborates on why, in his opinion, said penitentiary cannot legally be located outside the state.

From the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Governor Sharkey Collection. Letter from Z. A. Philips, state salt agent at Meridian, Mississippi, to former Mississippi Militia general A. M. West at Durant, Mississippi, giving his thoughts for rebuilding the Mississippi State Penitentiary system and arguing that African American convicts should be used for labor. Philips suggests that someone be selected to travel to examine and make reports on state prison labor systems in the Northern states. Describing his manufacturing experience, Philips makes several recommendations on how to use convict labor and asks to be put in charge of re-establishing the state prison. Attached is an unfinished and crossed-out letter that appears to refer to a robbery of Philips' sister and niece.