PARCHMAN, Miss — An inmate killed inside a Mississippi state prison has been identified as a Lafayette County man. The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) officials said the suspects were caught killing the inmate on video Thursday.
According to a statement from MDOC, 23-year-old Raymond Coffey was killed early Thursday morning at the State Penitentiary at Parchman, Mississippi. Correction officers reported the incident happened around 2 a.m. Thursday. The victim had been in prison for four years on burglary charges.
MDOC said Coffey had been incarcerated twice over four years on felony burglary charges.
“Based on the information we have thus far, the killing appears to be gang related,” said Commissioner Burl Cain. “We’ve been working diligently over the last three years to eradicate gangs from our prisons. We are making significant progress as we have reduced gang membership by hundreds and their numbers continue to dwindle. MDOC will continue to use every available tool at our disposal to clamp down on illicit and gang activity inside of Mississippi’s prisons.”
Investigators with the Corrections Investigative Division of MDOC along with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation are investigating the incident, Cain said. The assailants and others involved in the incident are in lockdown. Cain said the incident will be referred to the district attorney for criminal prosecution.
The prison at Parchman has had numerous problems with violence and official misconduct in recent years. The facility came under Justice Department scrutiny in 2020 after outbursts of deadly violence by inmates.
Even before the violence at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in late 2019 and early 2020, state health inspectors had found repeated problems with broken toilets and moldy showers. Inmates said some cell doors did not lock, and it was common to see rats and roaches.
Lawsuits funded by rapper Jay-Z were dismissed Jan. 13 after the inmates' attorneys and the state Department of Corrections said improvements have been made during the past three years, including installing air conditioning in most of the prison, renovating some bathrooms and updating the electrical, water and sewer systems.
In April, 2022, the U.S. Justice Department issued a report that said Parchman had violated inmates' constitutional rights. The department said the prison failed to protect inmates from violence, meet their mental health needs or take adequate steps for suicide prevention, and that the prison had relied too much on prolonged solitary confinement.
