Jay-Z-Backed Suit Says Company Downplayed Prison Virus Risks (1)

An investor lawsuit backed by rap star Jay-Z is accusing Centene Corp. of providing substandard health-care at prisons during the coronavirus pandemic.

Centene’s Centurion unit, which provides prison medical services for 16 states, is perpetrating “a grave injustice behind prison walls” by downplaying the risk of coronavirus infection to confined inmates, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court.

The suit filed by investor Laura Wood and financially backed by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation media company, specifically seeks records about health-care Centurion provided at Mississippi’s Parchman prison, where at least one inmate has died of Covid-19. Wood says ...