JACKSON, miss. – Attorneys hired by Jay-Z and other entertainers have ended two lawsuits they filed on behalf of Mississippi inmates in 2020 over their statements Deplorable living conditions in the state’s oldest prison – a facility under investigation by the Justice Department following outbreaks of deadly violence by inmates.
Even before the violence at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman in late 2019 and early 2020, state health inspectors had repeatedly identified problems with broken toilets and moldy showers. Inmates said some cell doors would not lock and it was common to see rats and cockroaches.
The lawsuits were dismissed Jan. 13 after inmates’ attorneys and the state Department of Corrections said improvements have been made over the past three years, including installing air conditioning in most prisons, renovating some bathrooms and upgrading the prisons electrics. water and sewage systems.
In April, the US Department of Justice released a report that Parchman had done so violated the constitutional rights of prisoners. The department said the prison had failed to protect inmates from violence, meet their mental health needs or take adequate steps to prevent suicide, and that the prison had over-relied on prolonged solitary confinement.
Issued by the Justice Department two years of investigation against Parchman. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in April that Mississippi Justice Department officials were cooperating with the investigation and vowing to resolve issues.
US District Judge Sharion Aycock in northern Mississippi this month filed the order dismissing the Jay-Z-funded lawsuits; rapper Yo Gotti; and Team Roc, the philanthropic arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. In a court filing, attorneys for the plaintiffs and the defendants at the Mississippi Department of Justice agreed that no one involved in the lawsuits admitted liability or responsibility to anyone else in the lawsuits.
“We are pleased that Parchman has begun to address the atrocious and inhumane conditions of detention following the Justice Department’s investigation, but we are not content with short-term improvements,” Mario Mims, who goes by the stage name Yo Gotti, said in a statement Monday . “The Mississippi Department of Justice has neglected these agonizing living conditions for decades, so we will continue to hold them accountable and ensure they are committed to creating lasting change that will keep their incarcerated population safe.”
One lawsuit was filed in January 2020 and the other a month later. The two were eventually merged. The second lawsuit said Parchman was a violent, rat-infested place where inmates lived in “abhorrent conditions” and their medical needs were routinely ignored.
Burl Cain, a former Louisiana jailer, became a commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Justice in May 2020 and vowed to improve conditions in Parchman. Since then, the department has transferred some inmates to other prisons. Parchman had more than 3,200 inmates as of December 2019; it has about 2,450 this month.
“The Mississippi Department of Justice recognizes the tremendous responsibility of housing individuals sentenced to our care, custody and control and has consistently worked to improve the living conditions of individuals housed in all of our correctional facilities, including the state penitentiary of Mississippi in Parchman,” Courtney Cockrell, an attorney for the department, said in a statement Monday. “Accordingly, we have and will continue to make diligent efforts to improve the quality of life of all individuals in the care of MDOC and provide them with opportunities to successfully return to their communities.”
Violence has long been a problem in Mississippi prisons, where many jail positions have remained vacant. State Department of Corrections officials have said for years that low pay, long hours and dangerous conditions make it difficult to find people to work as guards. The state has increased wages over the past two years.
The Justice Department said last year it had found “gross understaffing” and “uncontrolled gang activity.” It also noted that inadequate security allowed inmates “unrestricted access to contraband.”
Parchman was founded in 1901 on the site of a former plantation. For decades, prisoners worked on a farm that critics say resembled slavery.
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