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Rapper Kodak Black’s mother has hired a prominent lawyer to look into troubling claims that the rapper is being abused by correctional officers and inmates while in federal prison.
Marcelene Simmons has brought in civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump after her son posted on Instagram he is being beaten, starved, denied medical care, and other forms of abuse, according to Miami station WSVN.
READ MORE: Kodak Black says he’s being drugged in prison and denied medical attention
Simmons appeared emotional in the television interview, pleading with the federal prison system to look after her son.
“I want to make sure my son is OK,” she said. “I want to make sure they don’t kill my son. If they kill my son, if my son dies, I’m going to kill myself too. My son, after God, my son is life to me. My son is everything for me.”
“Please! Please! I need help,” said Simmons.
The Florida rapper, whose real name is Bill Kapri, kicked off a firestorm when he wrote several Instagram posts alleging that he was being abused. The posts were put up by the rapper’s team. In one post, Kodak says: “They are strategically killing me in here. I have been humiliated over and over again.”
READ MORE: Kodak Black, despite a lengthy sentence, gives back from behind bars
Kodak is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison in Miami after pleading guilty to weapons charges. Among the claims he makes in the posts, he accuses correctional officers of drugging him before he and another inmate got into a fight last October. He also says prison officials are keeping his mom and girlfriend from visiting him and that on New Year’s Eve, he was handed a tray that contained no food.
After his posts, Simmons and Crump said they arranged a welfare check on Kodak Wednesday morning, but hours before they could check on the rapper “they put him on a bus to Kentucky,” said attorney Devon M. Jacob.
Crump added that he believes this was done intentionally.
“We believe they intentionally moved him, so he couldn’t meet with his attorneys,” Crump explained to WSVN. “She wants to make sure that while he’s in their custody, that he doesn’t end up dead, so she is very concerned as well as all of her family that these allegations are to be taken seriously.”
“We’re trying to get to the truth of what happened to Kodak Black,” Crump added. “His mother is demanding the truth.”