FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                         CR
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1994                                        (202) 616-2765
                                                              TDD (202) 514-1888


            FOUR MORE MISSISSIPPI JAILS AGREE TO UPGRADE CONDITIONS
                    IN RESPONSE TO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROBE

                                             
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Four Mississippi jails that were found
to be unsafe and unsanitary agreed today to upgrade their
conditions of confinement and one also agreed to build a new
facility, the Justice Department announced today.
     The facilities, Tupelo City Jail, Corinth City Jail, Grenada
County Jail, and Forest City Jail, were four of 18 Mississippi
jails investigated by the Justice Department following a series
of inmate suicides.  Nine facilities now have reached agreements
with the Justice Department to correct alleged violations.
     The investigations, launched pursuant to the Civil Rights of
Institutionalized Persons Act, revealed that the conditions at
the jails failed to meet constitutional standards.  A separate
investigation of the individual suicides in Mississippi jails is
pending in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.
     Under the consent decrees, the four jails will develop and
implement new policies and procedures, provide adequate security
and supervision, ensure fire safety, offer adequate medical and
mental health care, and implement suicide prevention measures. 
In the agreement with Grenada County, officials have agreed to
complete construction of a new facility by May 1, 1996.
     The Justice Department's investigation examined all
conditions including supervision, fire safety, training,
staffing, medical and mental health care, and suicide prevention
measures.  
     "We cannot stand by while one's constitutional rights are
violated," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval
L. Patrick.  "I commend the cooperative efforts of federal and
local officials in reaching these agreements which will ensure
constitutional conditions of confinement."
     In the fall of 1993, the Justice Department notified local
officials of the findings of its investigation and entered into
negotiations to resolve the problems.  
     The Justice Department will monitor the four jails to ensure
that they comply with the consent decrees and will continue to
monitor the five other jails which entered agreements with the
Justice Department earlier this year.
     The Tupelo, Corinth and Grenada City consent decrees were
filed today in the U.S. District Court in Oxford and the Forest
City consent decree was filed today in U.S. District Court in
Jackson.
                                   # # #
94-653