215 multi-racial bodies were discovered in unmarked graves behind the Hinds County Jail in Jackson, Mississippi.
Now, Attorney Ben Crump and others are demanding answers.
Some family members of the deceased had simply believed that their relative was missing. Thus, the family members oppose having to pay to have their loved ones removed and buried in the proper manner.
The discovery began in the Dexter Wade case back in March. This is when Wade was fatally struck by a police officer. His family believed that he was just missing as no one had informed them of his death.
A press conference was held last month. At that time, relatives of three deceased men held images of their family member.
Gretchen Hawkins, who is white, held an image of her son, 39-year-old Jonathan Hawkins. Mary Glenn, a Black woman, held up an image of her son, 40-year-old Marrio Moore. Then, Betterstem Wade held up a picture of her son, 37-year-old Dexter Wade. Neither of the women had known that their son had been buried behind the jail. The sites had only been marked with numbers and a metal rod.
Crump wants to know why the deaths weren’t investigated. He also wants to know why the next of kin wasn’t notified. Instead, he said that officials chose to bury them in a pauper’s grave. This was close to a dirt road, by the jail work farm.
The chief of the Jackson Police Department has now instituted a new death notification policy. This would give relatives information about their deaths and causes.
Still, many are calling for justice in regards to the 215 Black, white, Hispanic, and Native Americans. They had been put in body bags and placed in shallow graves behind the jailhouse, he said.
As of now, it isn’t known if the 215 people that are deceased were results of “racism, prejudice, or bigotry.”
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