July 11, 2007

J.A. et al. v. Barbour, et al.

The lawsuit, J.A. et al. v. Barbour, et al., was filed by the Mississippi Youth Justice Project on behalf of youth at Mississippi's Columbia Training School (CTS). It alleges that CTS routinely failed to provide basic services and supervision required by law, and that the youth were subject to punitive confinement. As evidence, the lawsuit cites the following examples:

• While on suicide watch, three of the plaintiffs were able to deliberately cut themselves. None received psychological help during the isolation period, and staff failed to perform periodic checks. One girl was isolated for 14 hours.

• While confined to a segregated area, a female resident reported a sexual assault by a male staff member, but received no information about the status of her complaint and no counseling following the incident.

• In violation of existing CTS policies, five plaintiffs were shackled for 12 hours per day after unsubstantiated allegations that they planned to escape. The shackling lasted about a week and for some plaintiffs, nearly a month. Complaints of pain and injuries caused by the shackles received no staff attention.

The lawsuit names DHS Executive Director, Don Taylor, and former CTS administrator, Donald Armagost as defendants. The lawsuit seeks to force the state to comply with the terms of the 2005 consent decree that came after 2003 federal Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division lawsuit. The 2003 DOJ lawsuit cited numerous incidents of physical abuse, neglect, and failure to provide youth with mental health, educational, and rehabilitative services.