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 friend,
Parchman Prison is Mississippi’s oldest prison, and it’s also hell on earth. It’s plagued with a history of convict leasing, torture, systematicrapes, 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. We need to take action now to protect the incarcerated folks at Parchman before someone else is harmed, or even worse another person killed.
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 :
- 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;
- 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
- Beginning a formal process to reduce incarceration in Mississippi and shut down Parchman Prison for good.
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, dear friend.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Erika, Clarise, Marybeth, Leonard, Madison, Tamar, Neosho, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References :
1. "ACLU Strikes Deal to Shutter Notorious Unit 32 at Mississippi State Penitentiary", ACLU, 4 June 2010. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/226226?t=8&akid=40304%2E1942551%2EpMhsKT
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. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/226227?t=10&akid=40304%2E1942551%2EpMhsKT
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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