When someone dies in a Mississippi prison or jail cell, sometimes the public knows about it; sometimes, they don’t.
Often, even loved ones don’t find out the tragic news for days.
A new database from the Southern Poverty Law Center aims to help the public keep track of in-custody deaths in local and state correctional facilities across Mississippi.
Emma Douglas, a senior staff attorney at the SPLC, said in a news release about the database that the organization wants to “shine a light on the deepest recesses of our society as we advocate for improved conditions in jails and prisons.”
Douglas added, “We want to connect survivors with resources and memorialize those lost behind bars while ensuring transparency and accountability in the criminal legal system.”
The 41-page database, which is available for download, spans 2019 to 2025, using information compiled through data requests to county sheriff’s offices, which oversee county jails. Of Mississippi’s 82 counties, 28 counties did not supply data to the SPLC, according to the release. Also included is information from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety related to in-custody deaths.
Over the past several years, the conditions in Mississippi’s jails and prisons have captured national headlines, with particular focus on the shroud of secrecy around the deaths that occur in detention facilities.
In one case, highlighted this spring by The Mississippi Independent, a woman learned of her brother’s death from a mystery caller inside prison, which a chaplain eventually confirmed.
Mississippi prisons have become places where people die with alarming frequency, from medical neglect, homicide or the sheer strain of incarceration. Relatives are frequently left to piece together their last hours, days and weeks on their own, sometimes with details provided by other inmates, sometimes from rumors, and often with little help from the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Mississippi drastically underreports the deaths of people in law enforcement custody. It also incarcerates people at the second-highest rate in the nation, nearly double the national average, and the potential for deadly violence is everpresent.
The legislature has been slow to act. During the most recent legislative session, lawmakers waffled on what action the state should take to address the problem.
“Deaths in custody, particularly in jails, should be rare. When they occur, consistent and reliable data is critical to understanding the circumstances of each death and its implications for the operation of the facility,” Douglas said. “Simply being involved in the criminal legal system should not be a death sentence.”
Image: Monquel Nason (courtesy Angel Readus)