Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
I guess I should not be surprised that the State of Mississippi is once again in the news because the Federal Government has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against it. The Department of Justice has filed a suit against the State of Mississippi, and the City of Meridian, along with the county and various state agencies, alleging that the defendants have worked to operate a “school to prison” system that allegedly violated the rights of African-American students and students with disabilities.
“As a result,” the court filing states, “children in Meridien have been systematically incarcerated for allegedly committing minor offenses, including school disciplinary infractions, and are punished disproportionately without due process of law. The students most affected by this system are African-American children ann children with disabilities.”
Specific allegations include handcuffing, arresting and “incarcerat(ing) for days at a time without a probable cause hearing, regardless of the severity—or lack thereof— of the alleged offense or probation violation; not providing “meaningful representation” to the juveniles during the justice process; making the children “regularly wait more than 48 hours” for a probable cause hearing; and not advising children of their Miranda rights before the children admit to formal charges.
Students can be incarcerated for “dress code infractions such as wearing the wrong color socks or undershirt, or for having shirts untucked; tardies; flatulence in class; using vulgar language; yelling at teachers; and going to the bathroom or leaving the classroom without permission,” the Associated Press reports.” Common Dreams
I read the Common Dreams article and the AP article linked above and I could not believe that I was reading about a school district in the year 2012! This article could have been written in the 1950’s and no one would have even flinched. I know that the good Benedictine Sisters that I had in grade school in the 1950’s and 60’s would use corporal punishment against myself and other students who “needed” discipline, but they would have never allowed the police to put us in jail for leaving the classroom without permission! Has the City of Meridian and the State of Mississippi been caught in a time warp that has prevented them from escaping the 1950’s?
The Department of Justice initiated the lawsuit against the city of Meridian and the State because they have refused to work with the DOJ as some other cities have with similar programs. “Gregory Davis, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, said it is disappointing that the local and state government agencies have not worked with the Department of Justice to resolve the violations.
Roy Austin Jr., deputy assistant attorney general, told the Associated Press that other areas around the country have “school-to-prison pipelines,” but this is the first time the civil rights division has filed a lawsuit based on these allegations. He said Shelby County, Tenn., is another example of a problematic area, but he said officials there are working with the Justice Department to fix the problems. “The department is bringing this lawsuit to ensure that all children are treated fairly and receive the fullest protection of the law,” Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said in Thursday’s statement. ” Common Dreams
What would you do if your child was sent to jail for minor school infractions? The AP article linked above states that these students who are put into the juvenile justice system for minor school infractions can end up on Supervision and an additional school infraction can send them back to the detention centers! Does the State of Mississippi handle school districts that are not predominantly African-American in this disgusting manner?
“The Justice Department said Lauderdale County Youth Court Judges Frank Coleman and Veldore “Vel” Young denied the agency access to court hearings and information and directed the city of Meridian to withhold files concerning children. The Justice Department’s investigation began in December 2011. The school district has about 6,000 students, with 86 percent being black and 12 percent being white. From 2006 to the first semester of the 2009-2010 school year, all the students referred to law enforcement or expelled were black and 96 percent of those suspended were black, the lawsuit said.” Washington Post
I think that last quote from the Washington Post hits the nail on the head when it states that 100% of the students that were referred to law enforcement were black! I think it is fair to say that the City of Meridian and the State of Mississippi need to be sent to the principal for discipline! What is your take on this story?
Mike Spindell: I dontthink that Romeny would. It doesnt fit in with the Southern Strategy. The RepubliCons have been currying favor with white bigots in the Souther since Lee Atwater pontificated the strategy to Nxon and Raygun.
Fairly,
My point exactly.
Well tell me again someone why this election is unimportant and there is no difference at all twict the two parties. The Romney justice department would certainly follow the same path. Thank you for posting this Raff.
Fairly,
Well said.
I have some dear friends who are now in heaven. They would be a hundred and ten years old. When they emigrated from Meridian, MS in the 1940s they came to Saint Louis and found a somewhat segregated state with little of the hell of Meridian. They told me about a horrid place with lynchings and chain gangs being a norm. Over the years I have been in MS several times and seen great changes. But one thing which remains ingrained in southern states is this prison farm system that they love so well. The case on today’s blog has been in the news and on other legal blogs. The Justice Department has to dismantle this system, root and branch. In this day and age there are black politicians who get into some of this chain gang operations. If other blog commenters have any info on this topic please chimne in.
bettykath,
I have the same feeling, but I don’t have any evidence of that in this case. That is why I asked Nox if he/she had any evidence.
My guess is someone is making a lot of money on those kids. Another move toward the feudal society by preparing a generation of kids for slavery-like conditions, kids with no control over their own destiny.
What states aren’t being sued except California and New York by Eric Holder and his bunch?
Malisha,
You are right that this kind of system leads to life long problems!
Nox,
Do you have evidence that the juveniles are being held in a for profit detention center?
Ugh Disgusting. Wouldn’t we have to invade a foreign country that was doing this to one of their minorities? Where’s the National Guard when we need them?
Then the kids who have been wrongly imprisoned can’t find jobs; then they’re forced out of the economy and basically forced to find a way to survive; then we have a good “excuse” to imprison them for decades at a time so they can work for the state or for profit-making prisons for 17 cents an hour, and have to pay for their own lunch too, right? Is anybody minding the 13th Amendment?
The perverse logic of the American for-profit prison system in full bloom: whereby local government officials are incentivized to farm their public schools for black and disabled bodies to warehouse on the state government’s dime.
Guess there must not have been enough young blacks smoking pot for the city fathers of Meridien to make the monthly kickback quotas, so they had to look elsewhere.
OS,
Thanks for the link. Amazing stuff!
AY,
I have read about parental liability for their kids legal infractions and truancy.
It is a tough issue. Thanks!
When my husband was in grade school, like 4th grade, he was sent to a juvenile facility for like 5 years for kissing a girl at school. This was a locked place where they beat the kids. He is caucasian. He supposedly has an IQ of 165. This was in Steamboat Springs Colorado.
One thing I don’t like about DOJ is that they only go to Court to protect racial minorities. In fact they filed in Court something about that deprivation of rights under color of law can only be done to racial minorities. I can look up the exact quote.
DOJ should take on the cause of pro se litigants. Pro se litigants are the new untouchables in U.S. law.
Excellent article raff…. What do you think about parents being incarcerated for a child’s truancy or getting in trouble at school….I kid you not…..
The article you wrote about is just a tip of the iceberg……I hope the DOJ gives them their dooo process…..
Yet again, I am horrified at how low humans willingly go.
The sad part of this is, the problem is not confined to Mississippi. Dr. Denise Oliver-Velez is a front page writer at Daily Kos. She is a professor of cultural anthropology at SUNY. She covered this story in considerable detail this morning, and has a number of relevant links in her story. Read it and weep.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/28/1150468/-Wearing-the-wrong-color-socks-to-school-could-get-a-child-sent-to-prison?showAll=yes
Gene,
That is Algebra that even I can understand!
Raff, in talking with my relatives and others in Louisiana, sometimes the subject of how backward Louisiana comes up and inevitably someone says, “At least we’re not in X.” where X = Mississippi or Alabama. When the backward consider you backward? That’s quite an accomplishment.
(Sorry for the algebra. :D)
You could be right Gene. Mississippi seems to be intent on continuing like the Civil War never happened and that African Americans never went through the Civil Rights Era!
My take on this is that public officials need to go to prison for this, but unless the Feds do it? It’s Mississippi. It’ll never happen otherwise.