Findings Report only addresses Parchman. Our investigation of three other Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) facilities (Southern Mississippi Correctional Institute, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility) remains ongoing. 2 including those with serious medical and mental health needs—to segregation in restrictive housing for months and even years under egregious environmental conditions that pose a substantial risk of serious harm from psychological deterioration. Of the twelve Parchman suicides in the last three years, all of them occurred in restrictive housing. The problems at Parchman are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision. MDOC has been on notice of these deficiencies for years and failed to take reasonable measures to address the violations, due in part to non-functional accountability or quality assurance measures. Years of MDOC’s deliberate indifference has resulted in serious harm and a substantial risk of serious harm to persons confined at Parchman. For example, on December 31, 2019, just hours before midnight, a fight in Parchman’s Unit 29 sparked what would become a prison riot lasting several weeks. In the months leading up to the riot, there had been widespread reports about unlivable and unsanitary conditions throughout Parchman; violent murders and suicides on the rise; staffing plummeting to dangerous levels; and mounting concerns that gangs were filling the void left by inadequate staff presence and gaining increasing control of Parchman through extortion and violence. Despite notice of these structural and administrative crises, MDOC’s records show a staff that was caught off guard, utterly overwhelmed, and ultimately unable to adequately and quickly respond to fighting and significant injuries in multiple buildings. Speaking to a reporter by phone during the riot, a person incarcerated at Parchman said, “They ran the [correctional officers] out of the building last night . . . . I don’t know what they’re going to do. They’re short on staff.” The Commander and his staff shot “impact weapons” and also threw what was described as a “hand grenade” into the fighting area, to little effect. Over 100 officers were pulled from the Mississippi Highway Patrol and several local sheriff’s offices, who arrived at Parchman to assist in quelling the violence. Incarcerated persons set fires. Parchman was placed on total lockdown. When the smoke began to clear, five individuals incarcerated at Parchman had been murdered, and three others committed suicide during the month of January 2020 alone. Consistent with CRIPA’s statutory requirements, we submit this Findings Report to notify the State of Mississippi of the Department’s conclusions with respect to these constitutional violations, the facts supporting those conclusions, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the identified deficiencies. II. INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS In February 2020, the Department opened a CRIPA investigation into the conditions at four MDOC facilities: Parchman, Southern Mississippi Correctional Institute, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility. The Special Litigation Section of the Department’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s 3 Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi have been conducting the investigation. Our investigation of Parchman focuses on whether MDOC adequately protects incarcerated persons from physical harm at the hands of other incarcerated persons, as well as whether
Same source, country, and finding where possible.