- A Mississippi prisoner whistleblower claims that the latest death could have been prevented
- According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the county coroner said no foul play is suspected
- Since the prison riot began on December 29th, there have been many reported deaths of prisoners, the most recent was number 29
A prisoner at South Mississippi Correctional Institution has turned whistleblower speaking out about the latest death within the Mississippi prison system.
The prisoner claims that the latest death could have possibly been prevented. Discuss spoke to the whistleblower via Twitter. During the conversation, the prisoner requested to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
On Monday, a prisoner noticed another prisoner laying in their bed, unresponsive with their face covered with a sheet. The prisoner went to check on him by removing the sheet and quickly noticed their face was blue and there was no bodily movement. Our source claims the inmate immediately went to the tower to notify “Officer Pierce.”
OFFICER PIERCE, WHOM CALLED FOR THE MEDICAL TO COME AND IT TOOK THEM AT LEAST APPROXIMATELY 60 MINUTES TO COME TO THE BUILDING.
Once the medical team and prisoners put the deceased prisoner on the stretcher, they took their time taking him out of the building, the source claims. The name of the deceased prisoner has not been officially released but discuss has learned that their nickname was “Mad Dog.” His name will be released after next of kin is notified, according to Clarion Ledger.
According to our source, the deceased prisoner is an elderly, white male, that suffered from diabetes and was being denied insulin shots. The prisoner claims the prison guards do not do their prisoner checks properly. Adding to issues with timely prisoner checks are issues of understaffing and accusations of corrupt guards.
The inmate claims the guards falsify their logbooks to show their routine checks even when not one performed. When they do perform one, they do not check the prisoners’ identification or if the prisoner is alive due to most prison cells being covered in sheets. The sheets stay up unless important visitors are expected to enter the facility, the inmate said. In January, discuss received the same claim from another prisoner at SMCI. The prisoner provided an image sitting within the walls constructed out of sheets. He went on to claim that some guards will request the sheets be taken down, but there was no enforcement if the request goes ignored.
On December 29, 2019, numerous Mississippi prisons broke into violent riots, claiming the lives of five inmates. Once word of the riots spread via social media, prisoners used the newfound attention to expose the conditions they were living in. Inmates leaked videos to social media, inadvertently becoming their own citizen journalists.
As the videos continued to surface, it gained celebrity attention. Jay-Z and Yo Gotti decided to take action after seeing the videos. They put their money where their mouth was and paid for not only one class-action lawsuit, but two class-action lawsuits against the Mississippi Department of Corrections and government officials.
Since the riot, there has been a total of 29 deaths. The deaths have been labeled natural causes, suicide, and gang-related.