[ [link removed] ][IMG]Photo Description: Incarcerated workers on Parchman Farm, taken by
overseers, 1930s
“You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the
rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it
treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged....”
-- Bryan Stevenson
Dear John,
Parchman Prison is Mississippi’s oldest prison, and it’s also hell on
earth. It’s plagued with a history of convict leasing, torture, systematic
rapes, and inhumane conditions. And even though it’s been over 40 years
since several whistleblowers, including incarcerated people, have sounded
the alarm about the harmful conditions,^1 little has changed for those
confined behind the walls of the prison.
So it’s no surprise that over the last few weeks things took a turn for
the worse. Five people were murdered in their cells.^2 Traumatized and
scared for their safety, incarcerated men took to social media for help
and what they shared was horrific. Claims were made that it was prison
guards who gave the assailants keys to people’s locked cells and aided in
the attacks. Dozens of videos were shared from inside the prison showing
people being stabbed to death. Pictures revealed dead and bloodied bodies
filling cells, pipes leaking water and flooding cells, molded walls caving
in on themselves, and up to six people sleeping side by side in a cell
with nothing more than a sheet to cover their bodies.
In spite of all the cries for help, the Mississippi Department of
Corrections and Governor Philip Bryant have failed to address the
documented inhumane conditions inside the prison. [ [link removed] ]We need to take
action now to protect the incarcerated folks at Parchman before someone
else is harmed, or even worse another person killed.
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
This is the reality of our mass incarceration crisis in America, and our
nation’s continued disregard for human life. Parchman Prison is a
humanitarian crisis, that we can no longer turn a blind eye to. No one
deserves to live in squalor, or in fear that their lives may be taken in
the middle of the night. It is past time for Mississippi’s elected
officials to respond to the suffering of hundreds of people inside
Parchman Prison. That’s why we’re demanding Mississippi’s Governor and
elected officials take the following steps immediately:
1. Moving all of the incarcerated men to a more humane facility and
ensuring that all men have access to food, clean water, suitable
sleeping conditions, and adequate health care;
2. Conducting a full and independent investigation into the murders of
five incarcerated men, including any officers or prison personnel who
may have been involved; and
3. Beginning a formal process to reduce incarceration in Mississippi and
shut down Parchman Prison for good.
[ [link removed] ]John, we will not let the state of Mississippi sweep the
Parchman Prison crisis under the rug. We need you to demand action, to
demand answers and to demand accountability from the state of Mississippi
RIGHT NOW!
Power concedes nothing without a demand, that’s why we need you to join us
in the fight to bring justice to Mississippi. We can’t do this without
you, John.
Until justice is real,
--Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Erika, Clarise, Marybeth, Leonard,
Madison, Tamar, Neosho, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
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References:
1. "ACLU Strikes Deal to Shutter Notorious Unit 32 at Mississippi State
Penitentiary", ACLU, 4 June
2010. [ [link removed] ][link removed]
2. "Five Prisoners Have Died In A Notorious Mississippi Prison In 10 Days.
Officials Blame Gang Violence, Activists Say There's More To It", Blavity,
8 January
2020. [ [link removed] ][link removed]
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[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.
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