Escapee Still At Large After 5 Inmates Are Killed At Mississippi Prisons

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Escapee Still At Large After 5 Inmates Are Killed Within A Week At Mississippi Prisons

There’s something awry at several of the prisons in Mississippi and people are searching for answers.

Authorities are still looking for an escapee who got out of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman during a statewide lockdown.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said early Sunday that David May, 42, was captured by agents of the bureau, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Mississippi Department of Corrections, reports USA Today.

Another inmate, Dillion Williams, 27, is still at large.

The escapes come after five inmates were killed within a single week across the state. Prisons have been on lockdown since December 29 when an inmate was killed and two were injured in what was called a “major disturbance” at South Mississippi Correctional Institution.

The MDOC issued a statement to families alerting them that visitation was canceled for “safety reasons.”

“The Mississippi Department of Corrections continues a statewide lockdown for the safety of the public, staff, and inmates. Therefore, movement of inmates is limited to only emergencies. As a result, there will be no visitation this weekend.”

Following that there were three deaths at Parchman and one death at Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility and an undisclosed amount of injuries in what’s been described as a gang war between the Vice Lords and the Black Gangster Disciples.

Social media users are sharing stories about what’s going on behind the scenes at the prisons via inmates who are communicating with contraband cell phones.

Some claim that the deaths aren’t actually part of a gang war, and are actually the result of inmates rioting over inhumane conditions. They claim raw sewage leaks into cells, that dead bodies haven’t been disposed of and that their food is contaminated.

There are graphic pics circulating show dead bodies piled up and bloody floors.

The Washington Post reports however that a federal judge recently ruled that “previously bad conditions at East Mississippi Correctional Facility had been fixed and that the privately run facility had resolved any constitutional violations that may have existed.”

In 2013 the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center brought a lawsuit alleging that prisoners lived in “barbaric” conditions, where illnesses went untreated, rats climbed over beds and guards used excessive force.

This story is still developing…

*******UPDATE********

Governor Phil Bryant said order has been restored, calling it “a tragic week” at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

“Inmate needs are being met and I have ordered the investigations to continue,” Bryant said according to WAPT. “Someone asked earlier, ‘Who’s responsible for what’s happening at Parchman?’ The inmates — the inmates are the ones that take each other’s lives. Inmates are the ones that fashion weapons out of metal. The inmates are the ones that do the damage to the very rooms that they are living in. I would say, look to the inmates,” Bryant said. “We are going to stop it. We have it under control as best we can. Prisons are difficult to manage under the best of circumstances.”