Legal group seeks federal inquiry into Miss. prisons

Prisoner advocates hold signs supporting inmate rights at a protest outside the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. The protesters called on the federal government to investigate Mississippi's prison system for possible civil rights violations. They say five deaths in recent days highlights deliberate violations of inmates' constitutional rights. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Prisoner advocates hold signs supporting inmate rights at a protest outside the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. The protesters called on the federal government to investigate Mississippi's prison system for possible civil rights violations. They say five deaths in recent days highlights deliberate violations of inmates' constitutional rights. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Miss. -- Prisoner advocates are calling on the federal government to investigate Mississippi's prison system for possible civil rights violations, saying the violence of recent days highlights deliberate violations of inmates' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

A formal letter and protest came Tuesday even as the mother of one slain inmate said she's still waiting on an official explanation of how her son died.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Mississippi conference of the NAACP, the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups made the request to the U.S. Department of Justice. The letter warns that "it is no exaggeration to say more lives will be lost absent immediate intervention."

"The Mississippi prison system is in a state of acute and undeniable crises, with five deaths in just the last ten days, and a history of preventable deaths and injuries stretching back years," the 23-page complaint states. "Mississippi has acknowledged the danger presented by severe understaffing and horrific conditions, but has repeatedly failed to take appropriate action."

U.S. Rep Bennie Thompson, Mississippi's only Democrat in Congress, called Sunday for a federal investigation after inmates were killed by fellow prisoners across three prisons and an unknown number of inmates were injured. Mississippi prison officials, who called in state troopers and a Tennessee prison guard team to regain control, have said four of deaths are related to violence among gangs.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections on Tuesday lifted lockdowns at 11 of the state's 15 county-run regional facilities, but kept them at two regional facilities and six larger prisons.

Rotonia Gates, the mother of one of the men that was killed, said she's still waiting for a fuller accounting of what happened to her son, Walter "Keon" Gates, 25. He was stabbed to death at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman on Dec. 31.

State Desk on 01/09/2020

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