Mexican guest workers hired by a contractor with more than $9 million in state contracts to maintain the shoulders and medians of rural Mississippi roadways were cheated out of their wages. A federal lawsuit on behalf of six workers alleged that the contractor broke federal racketeering laws....
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Features and Stories
A federal judge ruled in an SPLC case today that the Mississippi Department of Corrections is violating the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoners at Walnut Grove Correctional Facility by failing to protect them from violence by “gangs run amok.”
Features and Stories
Destin Holmes was constantly bombarded with anti-gay slurs and insults by students and even teachers. Her principal said: “I don’t want a dyke in this school.” Now, the school district has agreed to adopt new policies to protect LGBT students from harassment.
Features and Stories
An SPLC lawyer in Mississippi recounts her experience helping two prisoners whose draconian sentences for nonviolent offenses illustrate the injustices of the U.S. prison system, the world’s largest.
Features and Stories
An MSNBC interview with the head of the SPLC’s Mississippi office illuminates the link between prison profits and human rights abuses.
Features and Stories
The SPLC is hosting or supporting events in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi this month to raise public awareness of the need to reform criminal justice policies that are harming vulnerable children.
Features and Stories
The SPLC submitted hundreds of pages of expert reports to a federal court as part of a motion to certify a lawsuit against the East Mississippi Correctional Facility as a class action. The reports expose shocking human rights violations at the for-profit prison for the mentally ill, including conditions described as “torture” by a forensic psychiatrist.
Features and Stories
A federal judge has held Hinds County, Miss., officials in contempt of court for failing to comply with a settlement addressing the abuse and neglect of children at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center. The agreement was extended by two years to allow more time for compliance.
Features and Stories
Legislation signed by Mississippi’s governor will help reduce the state’s prison population and make sentencing more equitable; many drug offenders will get treatment instead of prison terms.
Features and Stories
A former guard tells about her experience working at a Hattiesburg, Miss., juvenile detention facility and why she leaked videotapes showing violence against children held there.
