The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into conditions of confinement in four of Mississippi’s prisons.
The investigation will look into conditions at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman), Southern Mississippi Correctional Institute, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, and the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, according to officials.
The State of Mississippi is responsible for all four facilities.
The investigation will focus on whether the Mississippi Department of Corrections adequately protects prisoners from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners at the four prisons.
Also the federal government will determine whether there is adequate suicide prevention, including adequate mental health care and appropriate use of isolation, at Parchman.
In a 23-page request, “a roster of civil rights groups and elected officials, including Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, described “extreme” staff vacancies, as well as a long record of violence, escapes, uprisings, inadequate health care and institutions where criminal gangs are tolerated,” according to the New York Times.
The Department has not reached any conclusions regarding the allegations in this matter.
The investigation will be conducted under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act or CRIPA.
Under CRIPA, the Department has the authority to investigate violations of prisoners’ constitutional rights that result from a “pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of such rights.”
The Department has conducted CRIPA investigations of many correctional systems, and where violations have been found, the resulting settlement agreements have led to important reforms.