Rappers Jay Z and Yo Gotti file lawsuit against Mississippi Department of Corrections News
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Rappers Jay Z and Yo Gotti file lawsuit against Mississippi Department of Corrections

Rappers Jay Z and Yo Gotti filed a second lawsuit on Tuesday against the Mississippi Department of Corrections, targeting Parchaman Prison, where at least nine inmates have died since the beginning of the year.

The class action suit, which the rappers filed on behalf of 152 inmates at the prison, alleges violation of inmates’ Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. The complaint also states that the prison’s deficient staffing, living conditions, contaminated food, lack of adequate health care and exhaustion of administrative remedies contributes to the alarming number of deaths that have occurred and continue to occur at the prison.

Parchman has been understaffed and underfunded for decades As a result prisoners endure abhorrent conditions, abuse and constant violence, inadequate health care and mental care, and overuse of isolation. The conditions of confinement at Parchman are so barbaric, the deprivation of health and mental health care so extreme, and the defects in security so severe, that the people confined at Parchman live a miserable and hopeless existence confronted daily by imminent risk of substantial harm in violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Team Roc, the philanthropic sector of Jay Z’s entertainment company, has called for the Mississippi Department of Corrections to address the health and safety risks within 90 days.