Students from the MacArthur Justice Center revisited Mississippi State Penitentiary, or Parchman Farm, this month as a part of their two-year initiative to improve living conditions for Mississippi death row inmates.
Assistant Director of the MacArthur Center Cliff Johnson escorted his students to Parchman earlier this month. He has worked with students to improve death row living conditions since 2015, when the MacArthur Center won a lawsuit against the state regarding inmate treatment.
“Twenty-three hours a day they are locked in individual cells,” Johnson said. “One hour a day they’re permitted to go to what’s called ‘the yard.’”
The MacArthur Center monitors many aspects of the prison to judge death row prisoners’ living conditions. Law students keep track of issues ranging from leaking cells, inmate healthcare, insect infestations, disciplinary proceedings and proper nutrition. The state of Mississippi is required by law to address all of these concerns.
(Photo courtesy: Wikipedia)
UM law student Kyla Brown said before visiting Parchman she was convinced these inmates deserved their sentences and poor living-conditions. Then she said, she sat down with an inmate.
“When you get in there you can see and feel the human attributes, they’re not just people who did horrible things and made a bad choice,” Brown said. “They’re still humans who deserve to be under reasonable conditions.”
She said she met an inmate who grew up in a troubled home. She said as a child, the man told her he lived in a roach-infested apartment without much help.
“Before, I had such a different view, I was so scared,” Brown said. “Then when I left all I could feel was empathy and sympathy. I was so sad about their circumstances.”
The kitchen in the Mississippi State Penitentiary’s death row division is currently out of service while undergoing construction and renovations.
“They are bringing in food from a distance, [which is] temporarily making the portion size smaller and the food is being served cold,” said Johnson.
MacArthur Center students gather inside information from the death row inmates themselves. The state legally allows these inmates to talk with students about whether or not their basic human rights are being met in the facility.
Last June, Prison Legal News reported 18 inmate deaths in a little over six months at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Five of these prisoners had pre-existing medical issues.
The American Civil Liberties Union sponsors the National Prison Project to ensure acceptable living conditions for prisoners across the country. The Mississippi ACLU has separately cited “urgent problems” in the state’s prison system, and highlighted poor treatment of mentally ill prisoners.
Students at the MacArthur Center also have the goal of improving prison life for inmates suffering from mental illness.
“[The MacArthur Center is] concerned with the effects of solitary confinement for such an extended period of time, making sure people are getting the mental health care and medical treatment they need,” Johnson said.
Law student Josh Horton said he began studying law following his own arrest and still feels anxious inside a prison.
“The visit left me with more questions than answers,” Horton said. “Anyone who says those guys have it easy are sadly mistaken and have never been behind the walls.”
Pew Research Center reported 49 percent of Americans favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder. Last September, Pew also reported national opposition to the death penalty is at its highest since 1972. Mississippi legislators have been engaged in debate surrounding the death penalty since last year.
HB 638 recently passed through the Mississippi House of Representatives as a response to legislation some lawmakers feel could improperly remove Mississippi’s death penalty by restricting certain lethal injection drugs. If passed by the Senate, the bill would allow the state to execute prisoners by firing squad, electrocution, nitrogen hypoxia or lethal injection. This will reopen the discussion for alternative euthanization methods for inmates on death row.
“So, whatever you think about the death penalty, the issue here is about the humanity about how we treat people when they’re incarcerated and paying the price that they have to pay,” Johnson said. “I think that’s the place where we can find agreement.”
