From: ghost_of_morphy@poorconfusedstewie.com   
      
   Feds sue Mississippi over juvenile facilities   
   From Terry Frieden   
   CNN   
   Thursday, December 18, 2003 Posted: 10:37 PM EST (0337 GMT)   
      
      
      
      
   WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department filed suit Thursday against the   
   state of Mississippi for failing to end what federal officials call   
   "disturbing" abuse of juveniles and "unconscionable" conditions at two   
   state-run facilities.   
      
   In announcing the suit, top department civil rights officials cited shocking   
   practices including the hog-tying of children, and allegations that youths   
   were forced to eat their own vomit.   
      
   "Our investigation found evidence that juveniles were routinely hit, shoved   
   and slapped by staff, that juveniles were sprayed with pepper spray while in   
   restraints," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta.   
      
   "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," he said.   
      
   Mississippi officials said they have been working to correct problems at the   
   facilities.   
      
   The two state-run facilities investigated are the Oakley Training School in   
   Raymond and the Columbia Training School in Columbia, which together house   
   about 600 juveniles.   
      
   Oakley houses 325 boys ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old, and Columbia   
   holds approximately 100 boys ages 10 to 15, as well as 100 girls ages 10 to   
   18, according to the Justice Department.   
      
   "The conditions at Oakley and Columbia are unconscionable," Acosta said.   
   "This is no way to set juvenile offenders on the course to law-abiding and   
   productive lives."   
      
   After the announcement, Mississippi officials criticized the Justice   
   Department, saying federal prosecutors should have entered into a private   
   settlement agreement with the state, instead of filing the suit.   
      
   "We should be spending our time and our money protecting our children   
   instead of wasting it on unnecessary litigation and legal fees," said state   
   Attorney General Michael Moore, in a written statement.   
      
   Moore spokesman Jonathan Compretta said the state has worked since June to   
   fix all abusive programs, conduct and procedures.   
      
   Acosta and other top civil rights officials said they decided to take   
   Mississippi to court because talks had failed to end the abuses, which the   
   government first outlined to Mississippi in a 48-page report in June.   
      
   "Mississippi officials have taken some important first steps toward reform,"   
   Acosta told reporters at a Justice Department press conference in   
   Washington. But he added, "Despite some initial progress, we have been   
   unable to obtain agreement on an in-court settlement."   
      
   "We have information this is still going on," said a Justice Department   
   lawyer with the special litigation section, which conducted the   
   investigation.   
      
      
   The Oakley Training School is one of the facilities named in the   
   investigation.   
   The Justice Department is demanding Mississippi immediately establish   
   procedures, rules, and additional checks to ensure the civil rights of the   
   juveniles are not violated.   
      
   Officials said civil rights abuses stemming from racial or gender bias tend   
   to receive extensive publicity, but the civil rights of institutionalized   
   individuals rarely gain wide attention because there are few advocates for   
   them.   
      
   Although the conditions at the Mississippi institutions are among the worst   
   civil rights attorneys have found, similar facilities in many other states   
   are troubled, the officials said.   
      
   In the past two years the Justice Department has opened 33 investigations   
   into the conditions of confinement at nursing homes, mental health   
   facilities and institutions for persons with developmental disabilities.   
      
   Current investigations into juvenile justice facilities involve federal   
   probes in Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada and South Dakota,   
   officials said.   
      
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