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Shot of Malik Richardson standing outside by brick stairs
In-Depth

Despite Deaths Behind Bars, Hinds County Wants Out of Consent Decree

The Hinds County Detention Center has been under a federal consent decree since 2016. Elizabeth E. Simpson, the federal court appointee tasked with monitoring the consent decree, reviewed the video footage of how Michael Richardson died and wrote to the court about it on Oct. 28, 2021, identifying this incident as the latest in a series of deaths at the jail that year. Malik Richardson, 22, said that his father unexpectedly dying in jail left a hole in his heart.

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In-Depth

Strong Arms of JXN: Credible Messengers Use Experiences to Prevent Violence

John Knight, Terun Moore and Benny Ivey have all experienced life in prison and now mentor criminal-justice-system-involved young people as credible messengers with the Strong Arms of JXN, which launched in 2018. The Strong Arms of JXN gathers formerly incarcerated individuals devoted to showing young people alternate paths from the ones they at one point chose and have since turned away from.

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In-Depth

Lost in the ‘Dead Zone’: Thousands Languish in Mississippi Jails Without Lawyers

A jury rendered a not-guilty verdict for Duane Lake, 35, for a capital-murder allegation against him in November 2021. He had been in jail since 2015 and got his freedom after the verdict. The MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law says his story highlights Mississippi inmates’ plight in county jails without legal representation.

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