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DOJ To Investigate Mississippi Prisons After 15 Inmate Deaths

DOJ To Investigate Mississippi Prisons After 15 Inmate Deaths

Written by Isheka N. Harrison

Feb 06, 2020

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Mississippi Prisons
The DOJ is opening an investigation into Mississippi prisons after 15 inmate deaths. In the original photos: Hip-hop artist Mysonne, left, co-founder of the prisoner rights group United Freedom, speaks at a mass rally at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, on Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, to protest conditions in prisons where inmates have been killed in violent clashes in recent weeks. The rally specifically called upon the new state administration to close the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where a number of deaths have occurred. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) On the right, prisoner advocates hold signs supporting inmate rights at a protest outside the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. The protesters called on the federal government to investigate Mississippi’s prison system for possible civil rights violations. They say five deaths in recent days highlights deliberate violations of inmates’ constitutional rights. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Since December, 15 inmates have died in Mississippi prisons. Now the Department of Justice (DOJ) is stepping in. The DOJ announced it would open a civil rights investigation into the state’s penitentiaries Wednesday, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

According to NPR, the DOJ said it “will examine conditions at four Mississippi prisons, including the state penitentiary at Parchman, the state’s oldest, where a prison riot broke out on Dec. 29 after an inmate was killed. The all-male prison includes the state’s death row.”

The recent rash of violence has been making national headlines. In 2019, six inmates died within a month’s time and five prisoners died within a week’s time in Mississippi’s prisons, three at Parchman from Dec. 29 through Jan. 3. Two prisoners also escaped but were captured and returned to custody.

The loss of life has heavyweights like Jay-Z calling for prison reform and investing in attorney’s to represent prisoners who cite harsh, unfit conditions.

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Gangs have been blamed for much of the violence in the prisons, but some family members accuse guards of pitting prisoners against each other or placing them in cells with known rivals.

“My little brother stabbed, beat up, just in a cell, and then they’re putting him in cells with the rivalry. How could you do that?” one woman named Angel Taylor asked.

In a statement, the DOJ said it will try and get the answers to Taylor’s valid question.

“The investigation will focus on whether the Mississippi Department of Corrections adequately protects prisoners from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners at the four prisons, as well as whether there is adequate suicide prevention, including adequate mental health care and appropriate use of isolation, at Parchman,” the statement said.

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