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Jay-Z-funded lawsuits end as Mississippi improves prison
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FILE - Traffic leaves the front gate to the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Miss., Nov. 17, 2021. In January 2023, lawsuits that challenged shoddy living conditions at the prison were dismissed after attorneys said improvements have been made there since 2020. The changes include installation of air conditioning in most of the prison and updates to the electrical, water and sewer systems. - photo by AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys hired by Jay-Z and other entertainers have ended two lawsuits they filed on behalf of Mississippi inmates in 2020 over what they said were squalid living conditions at the state's oldest prison — a facility that came under Justice Department scrutiny after outbursts of deadly violence by inmates. Even before the violence at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in late 2019 and early 2020, state health inspectors had found repeated problems with broken toilets and moldy showers.