July 29, 1999
Mallery v. Taylor, 805 So. 2d 613 (Miss. App. 2002)
Were officials and staff at Oakley Training Center & The MS Department of Human services responsible for the death of 15 year old Henry Shumpert? "On December 30, 1996, at 2:00 a.m. Lucas was called to Shumpert's quarters. Shumpert was in respiratory distress and had blood coming from his mouth. Lucas requested an ambulance and found that one had already been called. Lucas attempted to clear Shumpert's airway and assisted the paramedics. Shumpert was transported to Methodist Hospital and was pronounced dead later that morning." Note--Lucas was or is a nurse on staff at Oakley.
2002
Fiscal Year 2002 Activities Under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
May 14, 2002
Joint Legislative Committee on Performance
Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER)
Report to
the Mississippi Legislature
This report does not recommend increased funding or additional staff.
June 19, 2003
MISSISSIPI GULAG
Report by Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Assistant U. S. Attorney General submitted to Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove
July 15-2003
Abuse cited at youth training centers
Rights violated, Justice Dept. says
A 13-year-old boy under suicide watch at Columbia Training School reported he was hogtied face-down with his hands and feet shackled together.
Suicidal girls at Columbia said they were stripped naked and were placed in a dark room for as long as three days to a week with only a hole in the floor as a bathroom.
Complete Article...When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 15-2003
Training Schools Under Fire For Alleged 'Horror Story' Conditions
DHS, Justice Department Officials Meet To Discuss Resolution
JACKSON, Miss. -- Congressman Bennie Thompson said state agencies monitoring the state's juvenile correctional facilities, or "training schools," are not doing their jobs.
The federal government has cited Oakley Training School in Hinds County and the Columbia Training School in Marion County for serious violations.
Representatives from the Justice Department were in Jackson Tuesday to investigate claims that some young people at the facilities were being hog-tied and forced to eat their own vomit.
Workers erected a fence around the Oakley Training School Tuesday afternoon, but 16 WAPT cameras still caught images of a dirty swimming pool that appeared to support allegations of health code violations and poor living conditions.
Complete Article...
July 16-2003
DHS: Center officials moved prior to report
Three administrators reassigned days before abuse findings released
The Mississippi Department of Human Services reassigned the three top administrators at the state's juvenile training centers last week, days before the release of a federal report detailing abusive and unsanitary conditions at the facilities.
The department would not name the administrators, but a U.S. Department of Justice letter identified two as Nanolla Yasdani as the head of Oakley Training School in Raymond and Michael Morris as the administrator at Columbia Training School. The third administrator, who was over Ironwood, a maximum security unit at Oakley, wasn't named in the report. The DHS Web site lists Richard Gray as administrator of the unit.
Complete Article...When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 17-2003
More funds sought to alleviate training school woes
The Mississippi Department of Human Services could receive a boost in funds when the Legislature convenes next year to help resolve problems at the state's two juvenile detention centers, House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman George Flaggs said today.
Complete Article...When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 17-2003
Lawmaker: Juvenile sites underfunded
Blame for training center problems must be shared, Flaggs says
The Mississippi Legislature should share the blame for some of the problems at the state's two juvenile training centers, the state House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman George Flaggs said Wednesday.
Abuse, inadequate medical care and unsanitary conditions at the Columbia and Oakley training schools were cited in a recent U.S. Department of Justice report. Justice Department officials investigated the centers last year at the request of 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson.
Complete Article….When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 17-2003
TORTURE: Who's guarding the guardians?
Horror stories, all too many. Something reminiscent of a chapter stolen from George Orwell's horror novel, "1984," or of an Iraqi prison during the reign of Saddam Hussein. Something that seems far from America, far from Mississippi. Something that wouldn't happen here, even in our worst nightmares.
Complete Article….
July 18-2003
Training schools
Politics of abuse is beside the point
The "blame game" under way regarding U.S. Justice Department findings of abuse and neglect at the Oakley and Columbia training schools is glossing deeper concerns.
There is apparently more than enough blame to go around.
The federal government shouldn't have to tell Mississippi to maintain humane standards in state reform schools. That said, the task now is to protect these children from any such future abuses or neglect.
Complete Article….. ….
July 23-2003
Lawmakers tour facilities
where abuse cited by Justice Dept.
RAYMOND -- New medical clinics are in the works at two juvenile training schools that federal officials say have failed to provide quality health care, education and sanitary living conditions.
The Justice Department is now working with state officials to fix the problems, which could lead to a federal lawsuit if not resolved.
The Columbia tour included the "dark room," which officials say has not been used for months.
Complete Article…When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 23-2003
Training schools 'garbage dumps'
I am outraged at the condition of our state's juvenile training centers ("Abuse cited at youth training centers," July 15). Regardless of the blame being passed around, both appear to be garbage dumps for young lives that have been entrusted to the state of Mississippi.
Complete Article
July 24-2003
Musgrove must fix deficiencies for juveniles
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove stopped by the other day, singing all the high chords on the virtues of education.
He invoked the memory of his mother, someone who implored him to use education as his ticket to prosperity. He preached about his career-long commitment to making education funding the state's priority.
He also shared about education's role in crime prevention, in keeping youth focused and within the law and our crucial responsibility to provide our children "hope in real jobs."
The governor's and the Legislature's commitment to learning and development has not extended to some troubled youths, particularly those at Oakley Training School and Columbia Training School.
Complete Article…..When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
July 28-2003
Fewer youths bound for 2 training schools
Staffing shortages, funding shortfalls cited in referee's decision
The head of a state Youth Court judges group says he'll send only limited numbers of juveniles to the state's two training schools, but not because of a federal investigation that found allegations as serious as youths being hogtied.
Complete Article…..When you reach this page you must scroll down to view areticle.
August 12-2003
Reports on life in prison come and go
Public is aghast at conditions only momentarily
By Charlie Mitchell
post@vicksburg.com
So far this summer, the top people at Oakley Training School near Raymond in Hinds County and Columbia Training School in Marion County have been told to clean out their offices and hit the door.
This happens. Every once in a while people on the outside get a glimpse of what those whose actions have landed them on the inside endure. And a spurt of righteous indignation follows, given that we're a society that doesn't deal well with letting others throw their lives away.
We'd like for people who stray outside society's bounds to stop and clean up their acts.
But they won't.
And when we get a peek at the conditions under which they are confined, we are aghast for a couple of hours, perhaps a day.
Complete Article…..
November 20-2003
State looks for cause behind crime
State juvenile delinquency experts are learning a key truth:
What works to set boys on the straight and narrow won't necessarily work for girls.
The state training schools, when they were built years ago, were designed
primarily with boys in mind because girls were not committing much crime, Adams said.
Complete Article…..
December 18-2003
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.
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.
Current investigations into juvenile justice facilities involve federal probes in Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada and South Dakota, officials said.
Complete Article…..
#703: 12-18-03 JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES LAWSUIT CHALLENGING ...
#704: 12-18-03 STATEMENT BY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL ...
Memorandum of Agreement Between the U.S. and the State of Mississippi
December 19-2003
Suit filed over youth centers
Federal officials filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Jackson after they were unable to reach a deal with state officials over how to improve the conditions.
The children in the two schools, ages 10 to 18, were routinely hit, shackled to poles, sprayed with pepper spray while in restraints, and hog-tied in a cell known as the "dark room," the Justice Department said. The federal investigation also determined that staff at both facilities sometimes punished girls overcome by heat by forcing them to eat their own vomit, said Alexander Acosta, assistant U.S. attorney for civil rights.
"The conditions at Oakley and Columbia are unconscionable," Acosta said.
Complete Article…..
December 19-2003
Feds Sue State For Alleged Abuse At Training Schools
Brothers Shocked By Conditions At Oakley
"The state of Mississippi has not, in our opinion, taken action to remedy the situation in Mississippi," said Assistant Attorney General Alexander Acosta.
Two brothers who spent time at Oakley School said Friday that they were shocked at how they were treated.
The brothers, who did not want to be identified, said that while at Oakley, they were beaten, sprayed with Mace and made to sleep on a cold concrete slab with no mattress.
Complete Article…..
December 20, 2003
Judge says he'll send offenders to schools
"I can readily say that I have no reluctance to sending a child to a training school that the law requires to be there," Tom Storey, head of the state Council of Youth Court Judges, said Friday.
Attorney General Mike Moore said he recommended to the joint legislative budget committee earlier this year to discontinue the outdated training school system and expand Adolescent Offender Programs, or AOPs.
"It's not working," Moore said recently of the training school system.
Complete Article……
December 20, 2003
Training schools
State should settle issues with feds
The U.S. Justice Department should not have sued Mississippi over conditions at Oakley and Columbia training schools, but now that it has, the state should settle.
Moore said, we can expect negative publicity pounding Mississippi again, nationally.
It's not totally unearned. The abuses found by Justice at Oakley and Columbia -- including hogtying boys at the male-only Oakley school and locking girls in darkened rooms at the co-ed Columbia for days -- were inexcusable.
Complete Article……
January 8, 2004
Lawmakers should focus on training schools
The brightest target for citizens frustrated with crime has always been law enforcement.
These ladies and gentlemen, especially police officers, are sworn to protect and serve as well as to investigate and solve a bevy of cases.
Still, a lawsuit the federal government filed last month illustrates that others, including state lawmakers, have a pivotal role in the crime equation. A big part of that responsibility is being ignored.
Complete Article……
Jan. 22, 2004
Lawmaker Advocates Closing Training Schools If Lawsuit Isn't Resolved
A key lawmaker says he would recommend closing Mississippi's two training schools if an agreement isn't reached in a federal lawsuit filed against the state.
If we cannot reach a settlement, I've come to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the state of Mississippi and its children to just shut them down,'' Rep. George Flaggs, House Juvenile Justice Committee chairman, said Thursday.
However, Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, added he's hopeful the case can be resolved.
Complete Article…..
March 12, 2004
March 12, 2004
State seeks help in U.S. suit
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson withholds help in settlement
Federal officials may discuss settling a potentially costly lawsuit against Mississippi over mental and physical abuse of juveniles in its training schools if U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is involved, a state lawmaker said.
But the 2nd District congressman, who initiated the investigation into the schools, said he has no plans to intervene.
"Mississippi had plenty of time to get its act together and didn't," Thompson said. "You're asking people to trust an entity that has not demonstrated any care or concern about children
Complete Article…..
January 20, 2005
Committee Passes Juvenile Justice Reform Bill
JACKSON, Miss. - A bill that aims to overhaul the state's system for handling youthful offenders overcame its first hurdle on Thursday, but not without opposition.
The bill, introduced by Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman George Flaggs Jr., would remove oversight of the state's training schools from the Department of Human Services and create a separate Department of Juvenile Justice to take over the responsibility.
Complete Article……
June 2005
Center staff named 'Heroes' for juvenile justice efforts
JACKSON, Miss. -- Center staff Sheila Bedi and Ellen Reddy, whose exhaustive work with the Mississippi Coalition to Prevent Schoolhouse to Jailhouse contributed to an overhaul of the state's brutal juvenile justice system, were recently named two of Mississippi's "Heroes for Children."
Complete Article
July 11, 2005
Natchez AOP ahead of the pack
By JULIE FINLEY
The Natchez Democrat
NATCHEZ - Supervisors in the Adams County juvenile justice system can now sit back and watch their success spread through the state.
Under the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, which went into effect July 1, Mississippi counties will handle their troubled youth differently.
Complete Article……
…
January 1, 2006
Read the First Monitor's Report …
March 22, 2006
Read the Second Monitor's Report …
April 16, 2006
Meridian Star - Juvenile center frozen in time
Judge Coleman says changes don't rank high on county budget priority list
By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN -- In the early 1970s, Lauderdale County Youth Court Judge H.C. Watkins envisioned a home for juvenile offenders that would provide a nurturing environment and teach minors about the dangers of drugs and crime.
The juvenile detention center that bears his name was one of its kind in Mississippi. It opened in July 1975.
More than 30 years later, the center looks as if it has been frozen in time. The decor, paint, chairs in the waiting room and even the refrigerator in the employee break room have not changed
Complete Article……
April 17, 2006
Youth offenders bill signed into law
A bill signed into law Friday gives juvenile offenders a chance to avoid training schools, said the bill's author, Rep. George Flaggs of Vicksburg.
"I am highly honored that the Legislature saw fit to pass this, which is based on my 19 years of experience in the juvenile justice system," said Flaggs, a youth counselor in the Warren County Juvenile Court.
Complete Article……
July 19, 2006
$10M suit alleges rape at training school
Teenage girl says male employee assaulted her
A federal lawsuit seeking $10 million in damages alleges a male employee of Columbia Training School sexually assaulted a then 14-year-old female student multiple times last August.
The employee, identified as John Doe No. 1, began making sexual advances toward the girl in July 2005, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Jackson.
July 17, 2006
Read the Third Monitor's Report …
July 21, 2006
Youth-services staffers in 2 Miss. training schools fired
Report shows state fails to meet term
The head of the state welfare agency says the department has fired dozens of youth-services staffers at Mississippi's two training schools over the past year, and those remaining are being trained to deal with children.
The developments come as a court monitor says in a recent report that the state has failed to meet most of the terms of an agreement that ended a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit over conditions at Oakley and Columbia training schools. Justice officials stepped in because of reports of violence and inadequate mental and medical health.
November 15, 2006
Read the Fourth Monitor's Report
March 15, 2007
Read the Fifth Monitor's Report
June 01, 2007
8 girls reported shackled at Columbia
The state Department of Human Services is investigating allegations that eight teenage girls at Columbia Training School were placed in leg shackles as punishment.
DHS Executive Director Don Taylor said in a statement that “administrators in charge during the time of the alleged incident” were suspended with pay.
Agency spokeswoman Julia Bryan said no further information would be released.
If the allegations are true, Taylor said the state may need to consider closing the Columbia and Oakley training facilities.
Source: Claron Ledger
June 02, 2007
Columbia juvenile school incident being investigated, says MDHS
Associated Press
COLUMBIA — The Mississippi Department of Human Services is investigating allegations that eight girls at the Columbia Training School, who threatened to escape, were shackled as a “prevention measure,” according to executive director Don Taylor.
Complete Article...
June 05, 2007
Girls Shackled, Abused at Columbia
by Brian Johnson
Eight adolescent girls were shackled, some of them for more than a week, at Columbia Training School because another student said they planned to escape. The girls suffered bruises from tripping in the shackles, along with blisters and cuts to their feet and ankles.
Complete Article...
June 08, 2007
Judge opposes school's closing
Repercussions from problems swirling around the Columbia Training School could impact Forrest County for the worse, officials said Thursday.
Youth Court Judge Michael McPhail brought his concerns to the Forrest County Board of Supervisors during their regular meeting, warning that closing the school - which the state Department of Human Services has said is an option - could threaten county budgets and overwhelm existing facilities.
Complete Article...
June 12, 2007
Parents, student speak out about alleged training school abuse
Allegations of abuse at Columbia Training School were recounted for state representatives today as a committee tried to learn more about daily operations at the school.
Within a week, the Department of Human Services will complete an investigation into accusations that eight girls were placed in leg shackles for several weeks to keep them from escaping the facility. Attorneys for some of the girls have said they never threatened to leave.
Complete Article...
June 13, 2007
Officials investigate abuse claims
Training school inmates accuse guards of sexual, physical misconduct
JACKSON, Miss. -- Inmates at the state's only juvenile correctional facility for girls were subjected to sexual propositions from male guards, long periods in restraints and sporadic visits from mental health counselors, a legislative committee heard Tuesday.
Complete Article..
June 26, 2007
Training school workers suspended
DHS, federal officials investigating alleged abuse of teenage girls
Six Columbia Training School employees have been suspended with pay pending an investigation into allegations of shackling girls, requesting sexual favors and other abuses, Department of Human Services director Don Taylor said Monday.
Complete Article...
June 28, 2007
Six suspended at Columbia school after shackling incident
Six workers at the Columbia Training School have been suspended with pay as state welfare officials investigate allegations that girls were shackled as punishment
Complete Article..
July 1, 2007
Jackson rally urges closure of Columbia
By Nicklaus Lovelady
Nearly 100 people from across Mississippi gathered Saturday in Jackson to draw attention to allegations of abuse at Columbia Training School and call for its closure.
From Biloxi to Greenville, former training school residents and their families attended the "Singing the Blues of Columbia Training School" event at 930 Blues Cafe.
Complete Article...
July 8, 2007
Read the Sixth Monitor's Report
July 8, 2007
Problems plague school
By SUSAN LAKES
COLUMBIA - Jingle car keys near some 16-year-olds' ears, and you might
get them thinking about cars and driving privileges and all the things associated
with freedom.
But that same metal-to-metal clinking noise brings flashbacks to one teenager
who recently was released from the troubled Columbia Training School
Complete Article....
July 9, 2007
State continuing its probe of abuse claims at training schools State investigating allegations at Columbia facility
By Susan Lakes
Hattiesburg American
A teenager recently released from the troubled Columbia Training School says she was part of a chain gang, forced to wear restraints for long periods of time.
"I had to wear leg shackles most of May," she said in a phone interview. The teenager, was interviewed by phone and was accompanied by Sheila Bedi, attorney for the Mississippi Youth Justice Project.
Complete Article...
June 11, 2007
Letter from MS Youth Justice Project to MS Dept of Human Services
Eight girls committed to Columbia, all of whom are young girls living with mental illness, and most of whom are victims of past physical or sexual abuse, were shackled for about twelve hours a day for time periods ranging from one month to one week.
July 11, 2007
Group sues state over Columbia Training School
Mississippi leaders are being sued over allegations of abuse at Columbia Training School, where some girls say they were shackled and asked for sexual favors.
At a news conference today, officials with the Mississippi Youth Justice Project announced they are suing the state in federal court on behalf of six teenage girls.
Complete Article...
July 12, 2007
Lawsuit Filed Over Treatment of Girls at State Reform School in Mississippi
By ADAM NOSSITER
JACKSON, Miss., July 11 — Troubled adolescent girls at the Columbia Training School, a state-run reform school, were shackled for 12 hours a day and forced to eat and to use the bathroom while wearing the shackles, according to a federal lawsuit filed here Wednesday by five of the girls against Mississippi officials, including Gov. Haley Barbour.
Complete Article....
July 12, 2007
Group alleging abuse sues training school
Advocacy group wants counseling, monetary damages for teen girls
The Mississippi Youth Justice Project had asked for counseling for girls sent to the school, monetary damages and "assurances that no other girls would suffer the same fate as our clients," group spokeswoman Sheila Bedi said. Bedi said the suit could have been avoided if the state had negotiated.
Complete Article....
February 15, 2008
Closing near for training school
Teenage girls at Columbia to be moved to Oakley, DHS says
Lawmakers said Thursday they will act quickly to approve shutting down a school in Marion County that has been under fire in recent years for alleged abuse of some of its teenage offenders.
Complete Article.....
April 5, 2008
Sex abuse, violence alleged at teen jails across US
CNN - USA
Another facility under Justice scrutiny is Oakley Training School near Jackson, Mississippi, which was sued by the department at the same time as Columbia. ...
Complete Article....
Related web site:
COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE
