The Roc Nation CEO and Memphis rapper partner to seek justice for the inmates of one of Mississippi’s most notorious prisons on the grounds of harsh living conditions and ‘inhumane, violent, and torturous conditions.’ Senior Editor James R. Sanders reports.
As prisons continue to make headlines for injustices happening behind bars, Yo Gotti, Jay-Z, and his social justice initiative Team Roc have partnered with A+E networks for Exposing Parchman.
On January 14, Team Roc and Attorney Alex Spiro filed suit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Together with 29 inmates, Civil Rights charges have been filed on the grounds of bad conditions specifically at Parchman Prison where two inmates have died over the last two weeks. In total, five inmates have died in Mississippi corrections facilities.
Rapper Yo Gotti, from Memphis said in a statement to the press, “The conditions in the prisons operated by the Mississippi Department of Corrections are absolutely inhumane and unconstitutional.”
The docu-series is going to be four-parts and will follow the Hip-Hop artists as they fight with 29 inmates from Mississippi’s Parchman Prison to get justice in a civil rights lawsuit and bring about prison reform.
The department of corrections told Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger that the violence is due to gang violence — however the suit alleged rat-infested facilities and a lack of proper sewage at Parchman.
According to a statement from Roc Nation, the motivation behind the suit was to “put a stop to the literal death sentences imposed on inmates through the inhumane, violent, and torturous conditions created by Parchman prison officials. We are honored to develop this series with A&E, Good Caper and ITV to continue to make sure the atrocities and history of Parchman are top of mind on a national stage.”
A second suit filed in February 2020 had 152 names attached. No release date for the docu-series has been announced.