Jay-Z launches lawsuit against prison after spate of inmate deaths

Jay-Z is taking the action after five prisoners died as a result of gang-related violence
Getty Images
Ben Morgan15 January 2020

Jay-Z has launched legal action on behalf of 29 prisoners incarcerated at a prisons where five inmates have died from gang-related violence.

The rapper is suing the Mississippi Department of Corrections and two prison bosses who he claims failed to prevent the deaths of the five men.

Three of the five deaths occurred at the state penitentiary in Parchman while another two took place at institutions managed by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro has lodged the claim at the U.S. District Court in Greenville, Mississippi, naming Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Pelicia Hall and Mississippi State Penitentiary Superintendent Marshall Turner as part of the legal action.

Mr Spiro told NBC news: “These deaths are a direct result of Mississippi’s utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated and their constitutional rights.”

The lawsuit comes less than a week after Mr Spiro sent a letter to Hall and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on behalf of Jay-Z and fell rapper Yo Gotti – real name Mario Mims - decrying the “inhuman conditions”.

The letter said: “People are forced to live in squalor, with rats that crawl over them as they sleep on the floor, having been denied even a mattress for a cot.”

He claimed the five deaths were a consequence of “years of severe understaffing” at prisons in the state.

The letter said: “As Mississippi has incarcerated increasing numbers of people, it has dramatically reduced its funding of prisons. As a result, prison conditions fail to meet even the most basic human rights.”

It added: “Roc Nation and its philanthropic arm, Team Roc, demand that Mississippi take immediate steps to remedy this intolerable situation.”

Roc Nation is the entertainment agency that Jay-Z, aka Shawn Carter, founded in 2008.

The spate of violence began with the murder of Terrandance Dobbins at the South Mississippi Correctional institution on December 29.

Gregory Emary was stabbed to death at the Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility on January 2.

Three of the five deaths took place at the Parchman prison where Walter Gates was stabbed multiple times on New Year’s Eve. Roosevelt Holliman was stabbed to death in a fight on January 2, while Denorris Howell was then fatally stabbed the following day.

The lawsuit states: “Walter Gates, an inmate of Unit 29E at Parchman was stabbed multiple times the night of New Year’s Eve, and pronounced dead just after midnight.

“Roosevelt Holliman was stabbed to death in a fight the next day. And Denorris Howell, an inmate of Unit 291 at Parchman was stabbed multiple times and pronounced dead the day after that.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in