Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“The state has sharply cut spending on prisons over the last few years. Along the way, the number of guards at the three state-run prisons has plummeted, from 905 in July 2017 to 627 two years later, even as the number of inmates has remained the same. Vacancies abound, largely because the pay is so low.“
The Guardian
August 21, 2019
Read More“Hundreds of other environmental sanitation deficiencies are also identified across the prison, including instances of black mold and mildew, exposed wiring, raw sewage as well as showers and ice machines that were inoperable. Unit 29, which has more than 1,500 beds, has the most violations, although the inspector found deficiencies across all of Parchman’s open units. Many of these issues are repeated across state health inspection reports since 2016, a Mississippi Today review found.“
Mississippi Today
August 5, 2019
Read More“American penal policies make sense if prisoners are monsters. If not, they’re just making monsters out of their jailers. History suggests it’s the latter.“
The Crime Report
October 15, 2018
Read More"His death was announced through a statement that appeared on the department’s website Wednesday, but was not distributed to media outlets. The manner and cause of death are pending an autopsy, according to the statement."
Mississippi Today
August 30, 2018
Read More"Gov. Phil Bryant said Tuesday that multiple state and federal agencies are working together to investigate the numerous MDOC inmate deaths this month. He added officials are 'going to do everything that we can to find out what is going on with each and every one of them. They're just as important as anyone else in the state of Mississippi whose lives have been lost'."
Clarion Ledger
August 29, 2018
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