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. Inmates said some cell doors did not lock, and it was common to see rats and roaches.
The…
