The Justice Dept. has opened a civil rights investigation into the Mississippi prison system after a string of inmate deaths in the last few months, officials said.
Some of the inmate deaths in recent weeks happened during confrontations between inmates. Some were suicides.
The deputy legal director for Southern Poverty Law Center, Lisa Graybill, said in a statement Wednesday that Mississippi prisons “have a brutal history rooted in slavery and convict leasing.” Health department inspections show Parchman has had longstanding problems with broken sinks and toilets in cells, holes in cell walls, widespread mold and mildew in showers, and sanitation problems in kitchens.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said in his State of the State speech on Jan. 27 that he has told the Department of Corrections to take steps to shut down Parchman's Unit 29, but the department has not said how long that will take.
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