PARCHMAN, Miss.–The stabbing death of an inmate in a maximum security section of the Miss. State Penitentiary at Parchman is being investigated today. The incident happened Tuesday afternoon.
Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said in a news release that 35-year-old Kelvin Bowen, of Sunflower County was pronounced dead at the prison hospital about 1 p.m.
The man ID’d as the one who did it is 31-year-old Roderick Roshun Lewis, of Warren County, a convicted murderer serving two life sentences.
Epps said some of the responsibility for the fight and stabbing falls on prison employees.
“An initial investigation revealed policy and procedure were not followed, specifically in that the assailant was not strip searched properly, and he was not restrained properly,”he said. “We will take the necessary disciplinary action upon completion of our investigation.”
Both men had extensive criminal and prison discipline histories. Lewis had been disciplined some 60 times before the fight. He is serving two life sentences for murder and armed robbery out of Warren County. He was convicted in September 2006 of killing a man whom he had worked for in a roofing business in Vicksburg. His past problems included assaults, some of which involved officers. He also has been disciplined for destroying property, interfering with security, refusing to obey staff, setting fires and possessing contraband.
Bowen, the victim, was serving three sentences, totaling 14 years, out of two counties.
He received one year for simple assault on a police officer in Sunflower County and 13 years for aggravated assault and three years for shooting into a dwelling, both in Chickasaw County.
