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The deaths of more than 19 inmates at the Mississippi Correctional Facility in the past two months is a disturbing trend. Not only does it raise questions about the treatment of incarcerated persons, it also shines a glaring spotlight on living conditions in the nation’s prisons. One of the most notorious prisons is Parchman Farm, located in Sunflower County, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta. Parchman provides an excellent example of how past injustices persist into the present, Its existence also stands as a reminder of how the horrors of our present moment have deep roots in the racial, class, and economic injustices of the past.
Parchman’s history can be traced back to the post-civil war era. Forced to reconstitute the social, political, and economic system after the destruction of the slavocracy, Mississippi, like other Southern states, looked to maintain a tractable workforce. Doing so meant resorting to the forced arrest, mostly on vagrancy and loitering laws, of scores of young African Americans, men and women. Once imprisoned and stripped of their citizenship rights, they became part of the convict lease system. A pernicious form of modern-day slavery in which the imprisoned were leased to wealthy planters and then subleased to corporations.
Conditions in the prison were sub-par at best. Rather than prison cells, inmates were housed in tents. Many were assigned to dangerous tasks such as clearing swamps or dynamiting tunnels for railroads. Children under 10 were repeatedly whipped and severely beaten. These deplorable conditions led to the death of between 9-16 percent of prisoners on a yearly basis throughout the 1880s.
Attempts to reform the system were initiated in the early 20th century. James K. Vardaman, known as the White Chief, an ardent segregationist and white supremacist, served as the Democratic Governor of Mississippi from 1904-1908. In 1905, Vardaman initiated reforms intended not necessarily to ameliorate the suffering of Black inmates but to appease his working-class white constituency. Consistent with Vardaman’s rhetoric and the virulent racism of Jim Crow Mississippi, Parchman was remodeled to resemble a traditional Southern plantation. It consisted of three farms: one small farm run by white convicts, another run by black women and the most sizable portion, which was plantation like in its scope for Black convicts. The farm spanned 20,000 acres and was designed to be self-sufficient.
The conditions for Black convicts were no better than they were inf the latter part of the 19th century. The relics of slavery were ever present. Violent white criminals, known as trusty shooters or trusties, were assigned to watch Blacks who picked cotton in the fields. A whip, Black Annie, was used to discipline and punish Black inmates. Prisoners lived in large barracks which were not separated according to crimes committed and often worked six days a week.
According to most observers, Parchman remained “frozen in time” Slight improvements occurred: guard towers, prison cells coupled with educational and vocational programs, which largely excluded Black inmates. Parchman remained wedded to its roots in the pre and post civil war slavocracy. Significant attempts to change these realities occurred in the 1970s. A landmark civil rights case, Gates v. Collier, forced reform in the prison. Parchman was desegregated, field labor ended and “Black Annie” was eliminated. In addition, the state eliminated the trusty system and hired black correctional and administrative personnel.
Problems however persisted at Parchman. As late as 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) over its treatment of Black death row inmates known as “Unit 32”. Living conditions were deplorable. Cells were dirty and toilets overflowed. With no remedy in sight, The ACLU continued to sue the system.The unit was eventually closed in 2011.
The contemporary spate of deaths as well as structural deficiencies and inhumane conditions in the correctional system continue to garner attention. Prominent rappers Jay-Z and Yo Gotti filed two lawsuits on behalf of prisoners to address the deplorable conditions that persist in the prison. The first lawsuit represented 29 inmates in Unit 29, which Mississippi's Governor Tate Reeves has ordered to be shut down.The most current suit was filed on Tuesday represents all 2,700 prisoners. The lawsuit calls on the MDOC to “immediately address the barbaric prison conditions at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and develop a plan that will eliminate the health and safety risks threatening inmates within 90 days.” Parchman’s sorted saga continues with no adequate solution in place. This situation is truly an example of how the present mirrors the past.