STATEMENT BY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA ON LAWSUIT REGARDING INSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS AT TWO MISSISSIPPI TRAINING SCHOOLS

“This morning, the United States filed suit against the state of Mississippi, challenging the conditions of confinement at two state-run juvenile facilities: the Oakley Training School in Raymond, Mississippi, and the Columbia Training School in Columbia, Mississippi.

The suit follows a year-long investigation, which revealed systematic abuses of the civil rights of juveniles.

Our investigation found evidence that juveniles were routinely hit, shoved, and slapped by staff, that juveniles were sprayed with pepper spray while in restraints. That in some cases, suicidal girls were stripped naked and isolated for extended time periods in windowless empty "dark rooms," with only a drain in the cement floor to serve as a toilet. We found evidence of systemic abuses, including hog-tying and pole-shackling. It was even reported that girls, overcome by the heat during drills, were forced to eat their own vomit.

Our thorough investigation included on-site inspections, interviews with juveniles, faculty, and administrators, and review of program documentation. The results of that investigation, and in particular the many disturbing practices we found, are documented in a June 19, 2003, 48-page letter to Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove and Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore. Copies of our findings, and of this letter, are available here today.

Since we issued that report, Mississippi officials have taken some important first steps toward reform. Our attorneys have met and spoken with Mississippi officials. Despite some initial progress, we have been unable to obtain agreement on an in-court settlement.

Given the nature and the pattern of the violations identified, we believe that a remedy backed by the authority of the federal judiciary is necessary to effect lasting and systemic change. We do not lightly seek to place state facilities under consent decrees, but believe that one is necessary in this case.”

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03-704