According to officials, “blunt force beating” was the cause of death for two inmates who died in a Mississippi prison on January 20.
NBC News reports the recent deaths, which occurred at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, bring the death toll across the state’s prison system to at least seven since the beginning of the year.
NBC News reports, Sunflower County Coroner Heather Burton said in a statement the two deaths come after another inmate at the same facility apparently died by suicide in his cell on January 19.
“Two inmates were killed in Parchman last night,” the Corrections Department tweeted on Jan. 21. “At this moment, it appears to be an isolated incident — not a continuation of the recent retaliatory killings. The Parchman chaplain has reached out to the next of kin.”
Newly elected Republican Governor Tate Reeves pledged that his administration would provide transparency amid the fraught situation, NBC News reports.
He tweeted in response to the Corrections Department’s post, “There is much more to be done here.
Earlier this month, Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro filed a lawsuit on behalf of the rap mogul Yo Gotti and Team Roc against the head of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the warden of the state penitentiary.
The lawsuit is for 29 prisoners who say the two officials have done nothing to stop the violence.
2 Inmates In Mississippi Prison Die From ‘Blunt Force’ Beatings was originally published on blackamericaweb.com