Statement on Parchman Deaths and Riots
January 6, 2020
I am disgusted and outraged by recent reports about deaths, acts of violence and other inhumane treatments of people in MDOC custody.
Although the media has reported four deaths, one injury, and two escapes, we have reports that those numbers are significantly underreported. This is a crisis that could have and should have been avoided. This issue didn’t just begin last week. Families have been complaining about conditions at Parchman and other facilities for years.
When I worked with the ACLU of MS in 2003, there was existing conditions litigation that eventually led to the closure of the notorious Unit 32 Super Max section of Parchman. In 2003, we took pictures of flooded cells and molded food. This hasn’t changed. For the past twenty years, I’ve heard regular accounts of prison beatings, neglect for the mentally ill, medical care neglect, and other accounts of unfair, inhumane treatment.
Let’s stop blaming the people incarcerated for acting out in subhuman conditions. The blame lies within the failed leadership of state who have turned a blind eye to issues in our prisons for years. What’s happening now is the result of a 20+ year cover up by officials and we must end the silence and stand up for incarcerated persons, family members and corrections workers who are suffering.
Nsombi Lambright-Haynes
Executive Director
One Voice
Leave a Reply