Lisa Jo Chamberlin, Mississippi’s Only Woman on Death Row, Alleges Prison Retaliation After Speaking Out

Lisa Jo Chamberlin, the only woman on Mississippi’s death row, has alleged that prison officers retaliated against her after she spoke to a reporter in January about her experiences and allegations of cruel and unusual punishment behind bars. Civil rights advocates are now calling for investigations into her confinement conditions.

In an interview last week from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility—after her phone access was restored—Chamberlin described what she characterized as punitive restrictions imposed in response to her speaking to Mississippi Today. These restrictions included prolonged cell confinement, blocked contacts, restricted interaction, limited shower access, and delays in receiving medication and mail. She claims men on death row with comparable records do not face the same treatment.

After the article’s publication, Chamberlin became unreachable for months. Friends and family later discovered she had been stripped of rights and privileges that men on death row continued to receive.

"I was blocked the whole month of February and the whole month of March," Chamberlin said. "She lost phone access" after the Mississippi Today article, said her goddaughter, Laykin Bordelon. The prison "blocked her pin number and she couldn’t make outgoing calls. I definitely think" the block and broader alleged restrictions were "retaliation for speaking out" about the constitutionality of conditions.

Chamberlin described stark disparities between her confinement and that of men on death row. While men have access to amenities such as gardens, pool tables, couches, and even their own kitchens, she remains in long-term closed custody with no equivalent privileges. The impact on her mental health, she said, is unbearable.

"This is the worst treatment I have seen by far" of anyone on death row, said the Rev. Jeff Hood in January, before learning of Chamberlin’s new restrictions. Her treatment "is by far, by far, the worst. Not just in Mississippi" but throughout the United States.

Hood, who has advised hundreds of incarcerated people, added this weekend that "Mississippi’s death row for men is one of the least restrictive in the country, so here you have the men getting a lot more freedom and space, and then you have Lisa and she’s completely locked down. The men have gardens, video calls, phone calls pretty consistently, day-room privileges, playing sports together."

Mitzi Magleby, an advocate in Mississippi, further highlighted the disparities:

"The men are allowed out of their cells from 7 in the morning to 7 at night. They have their own kitchen, their own basketball court, their own yard. They’re allowed to play games, watch television, talk on tablets, video with their families, and associate with each other—glaringly different from what Lisa Jo gets. Lisa Jo gets to sit in a cell."