JAY-Z and Yo Gotti have teamed up to tackle the injustices of the corrupt Mississippi correctional system in a new documentary for A&E.
Exposing Parchman takes a deep dive into the continuous prison reform work by Jigga, Gotti, along with local attorneys and activists working to bring change to Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary.
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For many years, Parchman Penitentiary has been under intense scrutiny for failing to provide adequate living situations for inmates. As a result, many prisoners have lost their lives due by homicide, hanging, and untreated illness.
The riveting documentary also introduces some of the families that have been devastated by the prison industrial complex in both Mississippi and across America.
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Team ROC, which is Roc Nation’s social justice and philanthropic sector, produced Exposing Parchman along with Good Caper Content and Red Summer TV.
Check out the trailer for Exposing Parchman below:
“The incarcerated population in Parchman and their loved ones have experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, so we felt a responsibility to help them share their stories with the compassion and consideration that it deserves,” Desiree Perez, CEO of Roc Nation said in a statement.
“Our hope is that this documentary will educate the public about these torturous injustices, hold the leaders in Mississippi accountable for fostering unconstitutional and inhumane conditions in Parchman, and create swift and comprehensive change to eradicate the state’s depravity in this prison and disregard for the criminal justice system.”
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Exposing Parchman will premiere on A&E on June 17 at 8:00 p.m.
Both artists have been fighting for reform at Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary since 2019. In April 2021 both JAY-Z and Team ROC filed multiple suits against the prison and its healthcare provider Centene, and secured legal representation for more than 200 inmates at the penitentiary in Parchman.
Shortly after this, the U.S. Justice Department released a report confirming “Mississippi routinely violates the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at Parchmen,” and has moved to provide “the state of Mississippi with written notice of the supporting facts for these findings and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address them.”
“Based upon a thorough investigation [which began in February 2020], there is reasonable cause to believe that conditions and practices at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (also known as Parchman) violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” the DOJ wrote in their report.
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Yo Gotti added: “My heart goes out to the incarcerated men who have suffered without access to clean water, food and healthcare and the families that tragically lost loved ones in the process. I will continue to stand up for the voiceless until they receive the justice they deserve. I’m grateful for the U.S. Department of Justice’s thorough report to hold the Mississippi Department of Corrections accountable for the cruel and inhumane treatment of the incarcerated population.”
