Judge won't lift consent decree at Mississippi prison
A federal judge has rejected efforts to end his oversight of a privately run prison in Mississippi.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of Jackson in a ruling Wednesday said conditions at the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility have not improved to the point where he would release the Mississippi Department of Corrections from a 2012 consent decree, WAPT and the Jackson Free Press report.
The state and Management &Training Corp., the for-profit corporation that runs the facility, had argued that conditions at the prison have improved enough that the judge should end his oversight of the facility.
But attorneys for the prisoners argued that the court-ordered monitoring of the facility should remain in effect.
In his ruling, Reeves noted that gangs control the facility and that prison guards often collude with them, leaving inmates vulnerable to attack and creating conditions that led to two riots in the past year, the American Civil Liberties Union, co-counsel for the inmates in a class action suit against prison officials, said in a press release.
Reeves ordered the department and MTC to implement basic safety measures to end gang control of the prison and violence against prisoners by guards, the ACLU said.
Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said the ruling will force state prison officials to step up their responsibility under the Constitution to protect inmates from violence.
“The department can no longer sit back and let a for-profit prison company neglect the prisoners’ safety on the state’s dime,” she said. “We will make sure that this historic judgment is enforced, and we hope its impact will be felt not only at Walnut Grove but at prisons throughout the state.”
Jody Owens, managing attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mississippi office, co-counsel for the inmates, said the ruling is an important one for current and future prisoners at the facility.
“We look forward to the continued role the court will play to ensure that prison officials uphold their constitutional obligations to prove a safe and humane environment for inmates at Walnut Grove Correctional Facility,” she said.
