Ben Crump calls for federal investigation after 215 bodies found in unmarked graves near Mississippi prison

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump is looking for a federal investigation on behalf of the families of 215 people found buried in a paupers’ cemetery behind a prison near Jackson, Mississippi, without their family members’ knowledge.

Crump desires to know why officials didn’t investigate the deaths and check out to contact next of kin as a substitute of burying them in a pauper’s grave near a dust road next to the Hinds County Penal Farm, about 25 miles west of downtown Jackson.

The lawyer also noted that there are more unmarked graves, a complete of 672.

“We want the federal Department of Justice to come and conduct an investigation to make sure that every one of these citizens, disproportionately black citizens, whose lives matter, have their families notified and are given a proper funeral,” Crump said PBS last week.

Crump joined forces with the Rev. Hosea Hines, senior pastor of Christ Tabernacle Church and national leader of A New Day Coalition for Equity and Black America, to call for an investigation into the causes of the deaths of 215 people.

“It truly saddens my heart to know that their relatives lived for so long, some over a year, not knowing whether their loved ones were alive or dead, and then came to the conclusion that they were buried in a poor man’s grave behind the prison,” he added. Hines said Chicago Crusader. “If they’d been properly notified, they may have paid due tribute.

“People across America are scratching their heads in disbelief at what is happening in Jackson, Mississippi, with this pauper’s cemetery,” Crump said at a recent news conference. “We started talking about water” that did not exist or was polluted, “and now we’re talking about a cemetery. What’s going on in Jackson, Mississippi?”

Hines said Jackson Police Department Chief Joseph Wade has implemented a brand new death notification policy “that will provide relatives with information about their death and its cause.”

“I spoke with the chief and he told me that he would implement policies and procedures to ensure this does not happen again and hold these individuals accountable for what occurred,” Hines said.

“There really needs to be a call for justice” for the 215 Black, white, Latino and Native American people buried behind the prison, Hines added, in response to Crusader.