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Lawsuit: Girls Abused
at Detention Hall
July 12, 2007
By Holbrook Mohn
 JACKSON,
Miss. - Girls at a Mississippi detention center were sometimes
shackled for 12 hours a day and subjected to "horrendous physical
and sexual abuse," a youth advocacy group claims in a federal
lawsuit.
The Mississippi Youth Justice
Project sued the state Wednesday on behalf of six girls, ages 13
to 17, and called for the shutdown of the troubled Columbia
Training School.
All the girls involved have
mental illnesses and were committed for nonviolent offenses,
said Sheila Bedi, the Mississippi Youth Project director.
One of the girls in the lawsuit
says she was sexually assaulted. Another says a guard sent
her a sexually explicit letter. Others were subjected to
excessive use of restraints, a lack of mental health care and
other abuses at Columbia, the lawsuit says.
Five of the girls say that in May
they were shackled from a week to about a month for 12
hours a day at the detention center.
"At times, Columbia staff failed to
'double-lock' the shackles so that they would tighten around the
girls' ankles with every step they took. This caused excruciating
pain, and they frequently complained to Columbia staff about the
injuries they sustained as a result of the shackling," the lawsuit
says.
Julia Bryan, a spokeswoman for the
state Department of Human Services, which oversees the school,
said the agency had not reviewed the lawsuit and would have no
comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit names Gov. Haley Barbour
and DHS executive director Don Taylor among the defendants.
After the abuse allegations
surfaced in May, Taylor suspended six employees with pay and
launched an investigation into the claims. DHS officials have said
they will release a report when an investigation is complete.
The center, which houses about
33 girls and has an annual operating budget of $5 million,
has been accused of abuse before.
In 2004, the U.S. Department of
Justice sued the state over conditions at Columbia and the state's
facility for troubled boys, Oakley Training School. Among the
accusations were claims that youngsters at Columbia were forced to
eat their vomit and were tossed nude into isolation cells.
Mississippi entered an agreement in
May 2005 to end the lawsuit. As part of that four-year consent
decree, a court monitor oversees progress at the facilities. The
latest report, released last month, says some conditions are
improving but there are still problems at the schools.
"The fact that these violations
persist, is incredibly telling about how broken this system is,"
Bedi said.
One of the girls in the lawsuit,
identified only as a 15-year-old with the initials M.S., said she
was sexually assaulted in May by a male guard at the
facility.
The guard "proceeded to grab M.S.
in an embrace, kiss her, and rub her breasts and genitals with his
hands over her clothes," the lawsuit says. He "returned later that
same night ... again entered her cell, grabbed her around the waist
and attempted to put his hand in her underwear." The girl struggled,
and the guard left the room, the lawsuit says.
The girl described the alleged
abuse to reporters during an emotional interview Wednesday in which
her mother broke down in tears. She said she reported the abuse,
but "nothing was done about it."
"They told me I was lying," she
said. "They told me that I was wrong for reporting it, that I
shouldn't have brought it up."
A 17-year-old girl identified as
E.S. told reporters she was shackled in leg irons for three weeks.
"I have nightmares at night. I have
scars on my ankles. I cry when I see shackles or handcuffs," she
said.
E.S., who is white, said she was
discriminated against because of her race and witnessed a guard
asking another girl to show her breasts.
It is Associated Press policy not
to identify suspected victims of sexual abuse.
State Rep. George Flaggs, chairman
of the House Juvenile Justice Committee, said in a statement that
lawmakers need to fix the problems at Columbia so the state doesn't
end up in court again.
"The time has come to transform
Columbia from a facility notorious for abuse and neglect to a
facility that contributes positively to the future of all
Mississippians," the Democrat said.
Mississippi Oakley School Agreement
(court) |
