Jay-Z helping inmates get legal aid after outbreak of prison violence

Famed rapper and mogul Jay-Z is stepping up to help on behalf of 29 inmates whose lives he says are at risk.

Over the past two weeks, five inmates have died of prison violence in Mississippi. The Associated Press reports more than two dozen Mississippi inmates sued the state Tuesday, saying understaffed prisons are "plagued by violence" and inmates are forced to live in decrepit and dangerous conditions.

The federal lawsuit follows an outbreak of violence that killed five inmates and left an undisclosed number of others injured between Dec. 29 and Jan. 3.

Jay-Z's legal team is helping to provide legal aid to prisoners who he claims are in danger due to "understaffing and neglect."

The state department of corrections imposed a systemwide lockdown, which was lifted last week.