FEDS ACCUSE LAUDERDALE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI OFFICIALS OF CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS AGAINST KIDS WHO ARE REPORTEDLY FUNNELED FROM SCHOOL TO LOCK-UP ON THE FLIMSIEST OF PRETEXTS
CNN’s Michael Martinez has this extremely alarming story. Here’s a clip:
Officials in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, have operated “a school-to-prison pipeline” that violates the constitutional rights of juveniles by incarcerating them for alleged school disciplinary infractions, some as minor as defiance, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.
“Students most affected by this system are African-American children and children with disabilities,” the Justice Department said.
The federal agency’s civil rights division seeks “meaningful negotiations” in 60 days to end the constitutional violations or else a federal lawsuit would be filed against state, county and local officials in Meridian, according to a Justice Department letter dated Friday to those officials.
The letter also names two Lauderdale County Youth Court judges, Frank Coleman and Veldore Young.
State and local officials couldn’t be reached immediately for comment Friday.
“The systematic disregard for children’s basic constitutional rights by agencies with a duty to protect and serve these children betrays the public trust,” Thomas E. Perez, assistant U.S. attorney general, said in a statement. “We hope to resolve the concerns outlined in our findings in a collaborative fashion, but we will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action if necessary.”
In 2009, the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Facility in Meridian was the target of a federal class-action lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center that alleged children and teens were subjected to “shockingly inhumane” treatment, the center said.
The alleged mistreatment included youngsters being “crammed into small, filthy cells and tormented with the arbitrary use of Mace as a punishment for even the most minor infractions — such as ‘talking too much’ or failing to sit in the ‘back of their cells,'” the center said in a statement.
And here’s more from the AP’s Holbrook Mohr who reports that “Officials in east Mississippi…[incarcerate} students for disciplinary infractions as minor as dress code violations…”
Speechless.
JUDGES SAY CALIFORNIA NOT REACHING GOALS IN PRISON CROWDING, MAY HAVE TO RELEASE INMATES EARLY
In May of 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California’s prison conditions were so overcrowded and awful, that they amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, and thus were a violation of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution.
Now, a little over a year later, the state has made progress in doing the court-orded reduction of its inmate population with its realignment strategy that means thousands of inmates are being kept at the local level and not transferred to state prison. Still the trio of judges overseeing the population reduction has said more is needed.
The LA Times’ Paige St. John reports. Here’s a clip from St. John’s story:
California’s progress in relieving its teeming prisons has slowed so much that it probably won’t comply with a court-ordered population reduction, and judges have raised the prospect of letting some inmates out early.
Three federal jurists have given the state until Friday to come up with a schedule for identifying prisoners “unlikely to reoffend or who might otherwise be candidates for early release” and to detail other ways to hasten the emptying of double-bunked cells.
In the interim, the judges have ordered California to “take all steps necessary” to meet their existing deadline for population cuts.
A recent flurry of legal motions that provoked the judges’ Aug. 3 order shines the first light on shortcomings in California’s plan for fixing its prison system — one so overburdened, with healthcare so poor, that the U.S. Supreme Courtsaid incarceration there was tantamount to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
In May 2011, the high court gave California two years to comply with the three judges’ determination that prisons should not be overcrowded by more than 137.5%. State officials concede they are unlikely to reach that target by the June 2013 deadline and have told the judges they intend to ask for a new cap of 145%.
That would mean about 118,000 prisoners, which is about 6,000 more than the court wants, in quarters built for 81,500.
ANAHEIM BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB LAUNCHES PROACTIVE PROGRAM TO GIVE ANAHEIM KIDS A PLACE TO GO
After two officer-involved shootings by members of the Anaheim PD set off weeks of tense and sometimetimes violent protests, the Anaheim Boys & Girls Club decided to reach out to more of the city’s kids by keeping their doors open seven days a week.
It’s one of several simple, not-terribly expensive changes that the Club is making that could make a big difference to kids in need of a place to do and constructive things to do.
Eric Carpenter of the Orange Conty Registory has the story. Here’s a clip:
Leaders of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Anaheim aren’t waiting for the youth in need of help with homework, a good meal and a safe place to play to come to them for help. They are driving directly to those kids and picking them up.
This summer, the club began operating on Sundays – the first Boys and Girls club in Orange County to operate seven days a week.
And after weeks of unrest following a police shooting on Anna Drive – a mostly Latino neighborhood of densely packed apartments battling gang violence – the club decided to go there, too.
On Friday, club staff members went door-to-door to talk to kids and their parents. On Monday, a Boys and Girls Club van will pick up and drop off kids directly from that street.
They passed out about 150 fliers and permission slips Friday. They hope at least a couple dozen kids will decide to take them up on the offer to come play games, make art and even take drum lessons. No charge.An annual membership to the club costs $20. But because so many in Anaheim are living in severe poverty, that fee is waved for more than 80 percent of those who attend, club officials said.
Photo of Crestwood School, Meridian, Mississippi, by Tom1959, Flickr
this story is a lie. Thanks to the justice dept. we had to close down our juvenile center and just put ankle braclets on the crimminals. One just murdered an 80 old man at the grocery store on mothers day buying roses for his wife. Thanks alot. At least in Mississippi I can carry a gun and defend myself if I get the chance.