Jay-Z recently donated sports equipment to Mississippi inmates, according to MDOC officials and a press release.
The donation supports the Mississippi Department Corrections Facility’s efforts to develop creative ways to reduce idleness, increase productivity, and change attitudes toward rehabilitation. It includes an increased focus on sports like basketball, boxing, flag football, and softball. Jay-Z and Roc Nation have been actively working towards prison reform through legal fees, bail, and activism for the past decade.
“We encourage our inmates to be involved in sports activities as it battles idleness in prison. We have created many different teams to allow them to get out of their dorms and participate in being active,” said MDOC Commissioner Burl Cain.
Jay-Z donated a boxing ring to Mississippi State Penitentiary, where inmates recently held their first boxing match with teams competing against Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. This month, the MSP inmates competed with each other.
Randy Phillips, the Chairman of the Mississippi Athletic Commission, oversees boxing training and safety equipment standards for MDOC. The prison boxing events have medical staff, ringside trainers, judges, referees, and timekeepers. Marcy Croft, Jay-Z’s attorney, attended the latest boxing event.
In 2023, Jay-Z and Meek Mill co-founded the Reform Alliance. The organization worked with lawmakers to pass a criminal justice bill aimed at improving the review process for probation conditions in Pennsylvania. In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1950 into action in California, which limits probation periods for criminals, and scored Reform Alliance their first passed bill.
In February, the Reform Alliance appointed former inmate-turned-podcaster Wallo267 as the new Chief Marketing Officer. After incarceration, Wallo gained mass popularity for his motivational messages on social media and hosting the hugely successful Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast with his cousin and former rapper Gillie Da Kid.