Two more inmates were killed Monday at a maximum-security prison in Mississippi a week after a federal lawsuit accused the facility of inhumane conditions following riots that left five other prisoners dead, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Monday's slayings at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman bring the total number of killings at the state's prisons to seven in recent weeks.
The two new cases appear to be “an isolated incident — not a continuation of the recent retaliatory killings,” prison officials said in a statement Tuesday.
A statewide prison lockdown was ordered Dec. 29 after a brawl at South Mississippi Correctional Institution left one inmate dead and two others injured.
By Jan. 3, four additional inmates were killed and several others injured as outbreaks of violence continued at the Parchman facility, according to reports.
Prison officials said those five deaths were gang-related.
FOX13 News in Memphis reported the riots started as a gang war between the Vice Lords and the Gangster Disciples.
There were also two other deaths unrelated to the six slayings at Parchman, according to prison officials. One of those inmates reportedly died recently at a hospital of natural causes and another was found hanging in his cell over the weekend, according to Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton.
The names of the victims have not been released.
Last week, more than two dozen inmates at Parchman sued the state of Mississippi, saying the prison was dangerously understaffed and plagued by violence.
The lawsuit, filed the same day Mississippi inaugurated a new Republican governor, Tate Reeves, also alleges Parchman forces inmates to live in unsanitary conditions.
Credit: Rogelio V. Solis
Credit: Rogelio V. Solis
The inmates claim the facility is vexed by rats, flooding, sewage and black mold, and that their jail cells go without running water and electricity for days.
Some of the plaintiffs' attorneys are with a New York-based law firm whose clients include Jay-Z, who sent a letter to then-Gov. Phil Bryant and Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall, saying they intend to sue the state over inmates being “forced to live in squalor.”
An investigation is continuing.
Credit: Rogelio V. Solis
Credit: Rogelio V. Solis
Federal authorities in Mississippi said they were aware of problems in the prisons and said people should report possible civil rights violations or criminal activity. They did not say how extensive a federal investigation might be.
“When we compile details and feel confident that information is accurate, we will quickly share more,” MDOC said in a statement.
— Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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