Mississippi sued over prison perils

JACKSON, Miss. — More than two dozen Mississippi inmates sued the state Tuesday, saying understaffed prisons are “plagued by violence” and inmates are forced to live in decrepit and dangerous conditions.

The federal lawsuit comes after an outbreak of violence that killed five inmates and left an undisclosed number of others injured between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3.

The suit was filed the same day Mississippi inaugurated a new Republican governor, Tate Reeves, who had a prominent role in writing state budgets during the past eight years as lieutenant governor.

Also Tuesday, federal authorities in Mississippi said they were aware of problems in the prisons and said people should report possible civil-rights violations or criminal activity. They did not say how extensive a federal investigation might be.

All plaintiffs in the lawsuit are inmates at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, where three of the five deaths happened.

The lawsuit says conditions violate inmates’ constitutional rights to receive equal treatment under the law and to not face cruel and unusual punishment. It says the recent deaths “are a direct result of Mississippi’s utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated.”

In seeking information about prisons, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Jackson division and the state’s two U.S. attorneys said Tuesday that people could report potential federal criminal violations to the FBI or potential civil-rights violations to the civil-rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.

“Allegations of the violation and deprivation of civil rights, as well as criminal activity, continue to be taken very seriously by our offices,” said a joint statement by the FBI’s Michelle Sutphin and U.S. Attorneys William Lamar of the state’s northern district and Mike Hurst of the southern district.