JAY-Z and Roc Nation have been vocal in their efforts for prison reform. Earlier this year, they began the fight for reform at Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary.
Now, the lawyer hired by Hov’s company to spearhead the battle has filed an additional suit in the matter, independent Roc Nation but in the same fight.
On Wednesday (May 27), TMZ reported Roc Nation attorney Alex Spiro has filed suit against Centene, the parent company the healthcare provider used at Parchman. This marks the third suit in the matter from Spiro this year, which is on behalf a Centene shareholder who’s outraged 40 inmates have died in the Mississippi prison system — including Parchman — since December.
In the suit, the unnamed shareholder alleges the healthcare provider, Centurion, is a liability because their poor care the inmates and says it’s leading to lawsuits and potential stock market losses. The suit cites poor mental health treatment and lack testing for illnesses (particularly during COVID-19) as just some the examples.
The shareholder warns Centurion they’re losing money in its deal with the state Mississippi and believes that’s the cause behind their poor healthcare system. The suit is asking for a full breakdown Centurion’s accounting to determine just how much is or isn’t going to the betterment the inmates.
In a statement, Centene spokeswoman Marcela Hawn seemed unbothered by the latest allegations.
“Centurion and its board directors are proud the company’s history providing outstanding and innovative health-care solutions to this vulnerable population,” Hawn said. “We look forward to sharing more about our role in the delivery health-care to these individuals during legal proceedings.”
Spiro wasn’t here for it.
“Over 40 inmates dying in the last few months at Mississippi DOC alone is neither outstanding nor innovative,” he told TMZ in response to Hawn’s statement. “And it’s definitely nothing to be proud .”
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On behalf Team Roc, Spiro filed the first suit against the Mississippi Department Corrections in January, alleging the recent deaths multiple inmates were “a direct result Mississippi’s utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated and their constitutional rights.”
The second, filed in February, represented 152 inmates and called for the “barbaric” conditions at Parchman to be addressed immediately.