After the death of over forty inmates at Mississippi DOC in the last few months, Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation has backed a group of Parchman inmates suing Mississippi’s Department of Corrections over filthy, violent, unhealthy and deadly conditions of the facility.
Jay-Z’s legal eye is keeping the pressure on Mississippi’s infamous Parchman Penitentiary by filing a new lawsuit that calls out the prison’s healthcare provider. Roc Nation’s Attorney and representative of the inmates, Alex Spiro has filed a new lawsuit against Centene, the parent company of Centurion, which provides healthcare at Parchman. This time, Spiro’s client is a Centene shareholder who has seen the brutal news about 40 inmates dying in Mississippi prisons, including Parchman, since December.
In a statement by Centene’s spokeswoman, Marcela Hawn saying “Centurion and its board of directors are proud of the company’s history of providing outstanding and innovative health-care solutions to this vulnerable population. We look forward to sharing more about our role in the delivery of health-care to these individuals during legal proceedings.”
Video footage from inside the prison has revealed how Parchman has been plagued by riots, fires and suicides, showing the dire conditions allegedly exacerbated by the prison being woefully understaffed.
According to the suit, Centurion is actually losing money on its deal with the state of Mississippi — which the shareholder suspects might be why the company’s allegedly bailing on providing proper healthcare at the prisons.
