Mississippi moms question state as they bury slain inmates
JEFF AMY and STACEY P. JENKINS
Associated Press
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Manslaughter isn't supposed to be a death sentence. Nor is burglary. Nor is armed robbery, selling cocaine or stealing a vehicle.
But that is what the mothers of three inmates say was ultimately given to their sons, all of whom were killed in prison violence last week. As they plan their children's funerals, they are demanding answers. They want to know what happened, and why.
All three prisoners were slain by fellow inmates at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman last week. Two other inmates were killed in prisons elsewhere in the state. The outbreak of violence has brought national attention to problems that have long plagued Mississippi's overstretched prison system.
The mothers were told by their so