Imprisoned Man Died From A Beating, Not A Heart Attack As Authorities Claimed
Officials in Mississippi, including the authorities at one of the state’s prisons, are under fire and under investigation, as it appears they have lied about the death of a man, who was said to have died of a heart attack when he actually died from blunt force trauma.
Mississippi Today reported that on Jan. 22, 2025, Melvin Cancer, who was incarcerated at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, died while in custody, shortly after being “involved in an altercation with Correctional Officers,” according to a recent report the state Department of Public Safety sent to the U.S. Justice Department.
But that’s not what Cancer’s family members were told when they were informed of his death. In fact, Cancer’s niece, Mary Anderson, said she was told by prison officials that her uncle had died at the facility from a heart attack.
“They mentioned nothing about anything else,” she said.
And now, the FBI is investigating Cancer’s death as a homicide, and the bureau’s lead suspects are guards at the prison.
From Mississippi Today:
The death comes after fellow prisoners repeatedly complained about the 53-year-old’s lack of personal hygiene. On Jan. 22, 2025, several corrections officers went into Cancer’s cell to take him to the shower.
“He was transported to another building, where he collapsed in the shower area,” the report stated. “Cancer was transported to a medical facility where he was pronounced deceased.”
After prison officials’ initial mention of cardiac arrest as the reason for Cancer’s death, Anderson heard from other incarcerated people that her uncle was taken into the shower and beaten, she said. “The whole story started changing,” Anderson said.
Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said Feb. 19 in a statement that, “The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has turned its files and findings over to the FBI regarding the case involving the in-custody death of Melvin Cancer.”
The outlet also noted that Cancer’s case represents “the first time in at least the last decade that officials have confirmed that an incarcerated person was killed by a use of force by prison security,” although, within the past decade, federal prosecutors have convicted at least seven former Mississippi Department of Corrections staffers for assaults on inmates.
As horrific and concerning as these beatings and violent assaults are, equally concerning is how willfully and casually authorities can lie about them. Cancer died from blunt force trauma, and his family was told, as a matter of fact, that he died of a heart attack. He was allegedly beaten to death, and the official report read, “He was transported to another building, where he collapsed in the shower area,” before being “transported to a medical facility where he was pronounced deceased.”
This is yet another reminder that the police are lying, as do government officials, prison officials, and many others who are in positions of power and authority.
And in this case, we’re talking about Mississippi, where officers of the law were recently tried and convicted of torturing Black men for kicks. True justice means true accountability for those tasked with bringing justice. And, actually, that’s just the bare minimum.
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