Besides, horrible living conditions, one former state inmate talks about other problems in the Mississippi prison system.
The death toll inside mississippi prisons is now up to 26 since the end of december.
Two inmates died in the last week.
The most recent death -- 80-year old david parvin.
He died at the central mississippi correctional facility in rankin county on monday.
The former mississippi state university professor was convicted of murder-homicide in monroe county, with one conviction overturned on appeal before the mississippi state supreme court.
He was tried, found guilty again and sentenced to life in march of 2014.
Parvin was convicted of killing his wife in 2007.
Saturday -- mdoc reported that 77 year old willie c.
Booker died at the baptist memorial hospital in oxford.
He was serving life at the state penitentiary in parchman for the 1997 murder of james avant in calhoun county.
Prosecutors said booker and avant were arguing, and when avant turned around and tried walking away, booker pulled a knife and stabbed him.
Mdoc officials do not suspect foul play in either death.
And -- like all the other inmate deaths --the state will conduct an autopsy to determine the official cause of death.
But we'll never know what life in lockup was like for those 26 inmates.
But one former state inmate gives us a glimpse into our prisons.
Last week -- steven austin talked about the horrible living conditions at parchman and the other two state facilities.
Tonight -- he talks about what he thinks are the bigger problems plaguing our prisons.
I don't think i'd ever make it back down there again "i want to say the gangs don't run the place, but they do," steven austin, former state inmate, said.
In the last few months, growing tension between rival gangs the vice lords and the gangster disciples has lead to fires, fights and fatalities, inside mississippi prisons.
"so i think there are people for whom gangs are a necessity to survive in a difficult situation.
I think there are people who were not in gangs when they went in and are not in gangs when they get out, but they use it as a means of protection," cliff johnson, civil rights attorney, said.
"in leakesville, you had to sleep with your tennis shoes on because there was something going on down there every night," austin said.
And one of those nights, austin said he saw the worst in mankind.
"it was a friday or saturday night.
You could feel the tension with the inmates," austin said.
Austin said he watched a man die at the hands of gang members - even testifying in federal court.
..and it wasn't the first time he witnessed a death.
"two people actually die while i was down there.
One was stomped to death because he was trying to steal from somebody else.
The other one was gang related," austin said.
He adds that affiliated gang members are the one with cellphones.
"i've been shocked by those videos and they still trouble me and they still trouble me the fac quite a bit but it's real it's real," johnson said.
Standup: recently, pictures and video-- allegedly from inmates inside the prison surfaced online.
Austin said contraband like cellphones is easy to get your hands on.
"you can have one of your family meet with one of the guards or your family can send one of the guards a green dot card.
$200, $300 and they will send a cell phone in there, and there you have it," austin said.
In 2018, mdoc's zero tolerance initiative to reduce contraband resulted in the seizure of 11,863 cellphones from more than 30 facilities in the state.
Cliff johnson at the macarthur justice center at the university of mississippi said that's a result of paying the guards pennies.
$24,500 a year.
"and the consequence of that is that many of our guards, as a result of financial pressure and pressure within the facility, have given in to the pressure to participate in the trafficking of contraband in the prisons," johnson said.
"you can get more drugs down there than you can on the street.
It's so drug infested.
And they talk about rehab.
I just get upset just thinking about it.
I really do," austin said.
And from time to time austin says he still gets upset and that he says he talks a therapist to help him cope with what he's seen and what he's been through.
Now he is working to get his life back together because he says the consequences could be fatal.
"i've tried and still trying to straighten up my life since i've been out and i hope and pray that i never have to go back.
I really do because i don't think i'd ever make it back down there again," in response to the crisis at parchman, governor tate reeves announced-- back on january 27th-- that they would begin shutting down unit 29.
I reached out to the mississippi department of corrections to find out where they are in that process but so far -- no response.
So, i checked back in with cliff johnson at the macarthur justice center and he says that when governor reeves made that announcement -- there were about 1200 inmates in unit 29.
As of today, johnson says that number is down to 327.
That means that 3 out of 4 inmates have been transferred to different locations over the last 44 days.
I also reached out to mdoc for an updated number of guards currently employed by their department.
Also -- no response.
We'll keep you updated on when or if we hear
A former state inmate talks about his time in the Mississippi prisons.