Plaintiffs: D.W., by and through Devonsha Fairley; Mississippi Protection and Advocacy System, Inc.
Defendants: Harrison County, Miss.
Date(s) of Disposition:
none.
Complaint
: DW_Complaint.pdf
Agreement
: Amended_Settlement_Agreement[1].pdf
Children held at the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Mississippi endured squalid conditions and horrific physical and emotional abuse that violated their civil rights.
Children were forced to endure shackling, physical assaults by staff, confinement to vermin-infested cells and overcrowded, unsanitary conditions that resulted in widespread contraction of scabies and staph infections. The detention center also failed to provide children with adequate medical and mental health care during their confinement.
The plaintiff, a 17-year-old boy named in the suit as D.W., was forced to sleep on a concrete floor with a thin mat that smelled of urine. Despite attempting suicide in his cell, he did not receive mental health treatment or counseling. He was also harassed and assaulted by guards.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of all children confined at the facility and those who will be confined there in the future. The suit also asserts an advocacy group was unlawfully denied its right to access and monitor conditions in the facility. The detention center has been operated by a private corporation, the Mississippi Security Police, at an annual cost to the county of $1.6 million.
