PHOTO COURTESY OF MDOC
*This story has been edited to include new information from the MDOC
Two more inmates were killed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman on Monday night.
According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, 35-year-old Timothy Hudspeth and 36-year-old James Talley suffered “fatal injuries” during a fight with other inmates.
The department says that “the conflict that resulted in these two deaths is unrelated to the recent series of killings within the prison system.”
“The safety of staff and prisoners at Parchman is our immediate priority, and we are working hard to restore and maintain order,” said Interim Commissioner Tommy Taylor. “We believe that the motivation behind this latest altercation is limited to this new tragic set of circumstances. The environment that makes such violence possible must be addressed quickly, and we are committed to making changes to do so.”
Hudspeth was serving 10 years for possession of a firearm by a felon. He was sentenced in April 2018 in Tate County. Talley was serving 11 years for two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in Lee County. He had been in prison since October 2017.
On Saturday, an inmate was found hanging in his cell at Parchman. In recent weeks, five inmates were killed at the prison, and officials have attributed the deaths to gang violence.
Parchman is the only remaining prison under lockdown with inmate movement limited to emergencies only. The state recently partnered with a private prison to house 375 Parchman inmates.
