Mississippi Department of Corrections complaint: Injustice/racial discrimination/unprofessionalism

This matter involves a situation where he was said to be found in possession of a contraband C-7 rule violation. The fact that my nephew has been imprisoned for 24 years of his life, serving a natural life sentence, and calls me about a problem concerning a disciplinary infraction was alarming, especially knowing that he hasn’t had one since 2014. This was enough for me to contact you or anyone else.

I called Marshall County Correctional Facility but was denied access to speak to any authority about the matter. The problem is he was said to be in possession of a homemade charger, yet at his hearing, there wasn’t any evidence produced of the findings. When requesting to see the evidence, Ms. Rucker found him guilty. Now I’m trying to understand how you find my nephew guilty of possession of something without producing the evidence for it. He says that this was ordered by the superintendent to find people guilty without proper protection of the rule book.

My nephew is housed under MDOC care. At no time should he be treated in a way that violates his due process to have a fair and unbiased hearing. The fact you can have a hearing without evidence for possession is unlawful and against any protection provided by MDOC policies and procedures. The fact that this goes on at this facility, which is a MDOC state facility, is very disturbing as a family member. My nephew has been there for the past nine years and has never received a write-up, which is very concerning.

He has stated that this whole process is the agenda of the head authorities at the facility, mainly White, as a means to rehouse offenders of color with offenders of their likings. I noticed that the people in positions of power are mainly White, so ruling out what he says is not something I would care to do. He has never called to lie to me about anything, and his conduct as a prisoner in MDOC tells me he isn’t just getting in trouble and making excuses about it. There is surely something to consider, and I request that this office look into it. If he’s being treated in such a way, I will assure that whatever request he makes, I will honor.

There is no way you find these prisoners guilty without evidence. On his write-up, it says evidence attached, yet the investigation officer stated in her report, Officer Gray, that it’s not there; it’s in a CID office located at the facility. Yet when he goes to a hearing, there is still no evidence to produce. This should be seen as an urgent matter because I will surely file a report to whoever I must to ensure that he and others at that facility are not discriminated against.

We may need to investigate whether the biased treatment is due to racism, seeing that people of color are being targeted by this administration with bogus infractions without proper evidence. Rehousing other offenders of a different skin color is being done there. I do not question this agenda, seeing that MDOC is seen as a terrible place for men of color. I also wonder whether we should investigate if the superintendent is a racist and if having this position is unhealthy for men of color under his authority. I notice that a lot of money changes hands in the facility from top to bottom, as we see around the state. Would the agenda of rehousing offenders of his liking be a part of protecting White offenders’ families who fear their children being housed elsewhere because of the violence in these prisons around the state? This could bring funding for replacement through the promise of helping these families by simply targeting offenders of color.

The disciplinary officer was a person of color who is likely following orders. To avoid the obvious, they placed her there to avoid criticism from offenders, creating hate within. This system is very biased, and my nephew will not be and never will be subject to the violations he endured today. I request immediate action and thank you in advance. I will contact this facility and my nephew about what I’m hearing and what else he thinks can be done. He is not to be touched nor removed for this complaint I’m making, but as the commissioner, I am asking that you see that this matter is resolved fairly and quickly.