The Parchman Penitentiary, also known as the Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP) or more informally the Parchman Farm, is the oldest prison in Mississippi.
In 1933, Alan Lomax and his brother John went to the prison to record prison work songs. Speaking of the people he met and the material he archived, "These people were poetic and musical and they had something terribly important to say."
On June 1, 1938, Elvis's father, Vernon Presley, was imprisoned for forgery in the Parchman Penitentiary.
