Jay-Z, Team Roc, and Yo Gotti are making sure Mississippi inmates are being treated fairly!
Since earlier this year, Hov and Yo Gotti have been dedicated to exposing the inhumane conditions at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. The first lawsuit they filed back in January was on behalf of 29 inmates over unconstitutional conditions. Now they’re fighting on behalf of a total of 227 men behind bars.
Billboard reports due to COVID-19, the treatment of the inmates in the maximum-security prison had gotten worse. The men in jail say there’s a lack of Coronavirus testing, shortage on supply, scarce PPE and inmates are close to each other, some are even displaying COVID-19 symptoms. On top of that, the facility is “decades-old,” and understaffed/underfunded. These conditions reportedly result in “in barbaric conditions that allegedly include abuse and constant violence. “
Yo Gotti called out Mississippi Governor Reeves, Commissioner Burl Cain and Centene (the parent company of Parchman’s healthcare provider Centurion) in a statement and said they can’t continue to neglect and let the death toll rise.
“The situation in Parchman in dire. More and more of the incarcerated population are reaching out for help and pleading for immediate medical attention, especially as the coronavirus threatens their lives.”
The two rappers, as well as Jay-Z’s philanthropic division on Roc Nation, Team Roc, were motivated to step in earlier this year after a report about five inmate deaths in three different Mississippi state prisons. The deaths were allegedly due to the prison’s horrible conditions.