Jay Z, Roc Nation Sue Mississippi Prison

According to NBC News, rapper and mogul Jay-Z sued the head of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the warden of the state penitentiary on 1/14, on behalf of 29 prisoners who said the two officials have done nothing to stop the violence that has left five inmates dead in the past two weeks.

“These deaths are a direct result of Mississippi’s utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated and their constitutional rights,” read the lawsuit, which was filed by Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro at the U.S. District Court in Greenville, Mississippi.

The suit names as defendants DOC Commissioner Pelicia Hall and Mississippi State Penitentiary Superintendent Marshall Turner.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a letter dated 1/9 that Spiro sent to Hall and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on behalf of Jay-Z and hip-hop artist Yo Gotti (Mario Mims) protesting the “inhumane conditions in prisons operated by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.”

Spiro continued, saying they were “prepared to pursue all potential avenues to obtain relief for the people living in Mississippi’s prisons and their families.” He then closed his letter with this warning: “Roc Nation and its philanthropic arm, Team Roc, demand that Mississippi take immediate steps to remedy this intolerable situation.”

This story is still developing.