In Mississippi, Dress Code Violations and Back-Talk Send Students Straight to Jail

By admin on August 16, 2012

Talking back and breaking dress codes may be normal behavior for school-aged kids, but in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, those minor infractions land students in jail. According to the investigative findings of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the county operates a brutal “school-to-prison pipeline,” where children face repeated incarceration and abuse for the smallest misdeeds, reports CNN.

The federal agency detailed the results of its nine month investigation in a letter released this Friday. It found the system established by the City of Meridian, Lauderdale County, and Department of Youth Services, ”‘shocks the conscience,’ resulting in the incarceration of children for alleged ‘offenses’ such as dress code violations, flatulence, profanity, and disrespect.”

According to the investigation, “Students most affected by this situation are African-American children and children with disabilities.”

This isn’t the first time Lauderdale County has come under fire for its treatment of juveniles. In 2009, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group, initiated a federal class action lawsuit against the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Facility for its “shockingly inhumane” practices. The center alleged that kids were “crammed into small, filthy cells and tormented with the arbitrary use of Mace as a punishment for even the most minor infractions — such as ‘talking too much’ or failing to sit in the ‘back of their cells.’”

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Truth Is Scary