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 of 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 of the healthcare provider used at Parchman. This marks the third suit in the matter from Spiro this year, which is on behalf of 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 of their poor care of the inmates and says it’s leading to lawsuits and potential stock market losses. The suit cites poor mental health treatment and lack of testing for illnesses (particularly during COVID-19) as just some of the examples.
The shareholder warns Centurion they’re losing money in its deal with the state of Mississippi and believes that’s the cause behind their poor healthcare system. The suit is asking for a full breakdown of Centurion’s accounting to determine just how much is or isn’t going to the betterment of the inmates.
In a statement, Centene spokeswoman Marcela Hawn seemed unbothered by the latest allegations.
“Centurion and its board of directors are proud of the company’s history of 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 of 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 of.”
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On behalf of Team Roc, Spiro filed the first suit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections in January, alleging the recent deaths of multiple inmates were “a direct result of 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.