(MintPress) — A Mississippi police department, youth court and school district are under fire by the Department of Justice for allegedly running a school-to-prison pipeline, in which students are arrested and placed on probation for violations of school rules, including simple acts of defiance. In some cases, incidents as minor as dress code violations have been reported by schools, resulting in suspensions served out in probation detention facilities, according to the DOJ report.
A letter sent on behalf of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to the mayor of Meridian, Miss. and a Lauderdale County court judge, alleges that the Meridian public school system refers students to law enforcement for minor school-related offenses, violating students’ due process protection under the Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendments, and undoubtedly angering parents.
In an interview with MintPress, Meridian School District Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor denied such allegations, claiming that, since taking over his position in 2011, the school has only called law enforcement officials when violations of the law take place. Calls made to the Meridian Police Department Police Chief Lee Shelbourn were not immediately returned.
The letter on behalf of the DOJ goes on to threaten a federal lawsuit against the Meridian Police Department and Lauderdale County Youth Court, citing the seriousness and duration of the incidents. It gives the law enforcement agencies 60 days to comply, claiming that, unless negotiations move forward, the DOJ will file a complaint with the federal district court.
“The systematic disregard for children’s basic constitutional rights by agencies with a duty to protect and serve these children betrays the public trust,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Thomas E. Perez, said in a press release. “We hope to resolve the concerns outlined in our findings in a collaborative fashion, but we will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action if necessary.”
Forget detention, use the legal system
The DOJ accusations come after a lengthy investigation into the school district’s practices, revealing several constitutional violations. The research was carried out by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section, along with its Education Opportunities division.
The red flags were highlighted in a press release issued Aug. 10, in which it claims the Lauderdale County Youth Court, the Meridian Police Department and the Mississippi Division of Youth Services are specifically to blame.
The DOJ found widespread scenarios that followed this general plot: The school district would contact local law enforcement regarding a student who had allegedly violated school rules. The student would then be arrested and sent to the county juvenile justice system, which the DOJ alleges to have a system of due process that is “illusory and inadequate.” From there, the students would be placed on probation.
Yet even then, when a student was in the probation system, the school district allegedly had a hand in the terms of the probation. The DOJ cites incidents in which students on probation found violating school rules would punish in the Youth Court system.
“ … Children on probation are routinely arrested and incarcerated for allegedly violating the probation by committing minor school infractions,” a DOJ press release states, “such as dress code violations, which result in suspensions.”
According to the report, such suspensions from the school district were carried out in probation detention facilities.
From this, the DOJ alleges grave violations of the Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendments, claiming the system abandons due process and unfairly incarcerates youth for minor school infractions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to seeing the rule of law applies to all citizens fairly and equally,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, Gregory Davis, said in a press release. “We hope to be able to resolve the civil rights violations found by the Justice Department in a way that benefits all the people of Meridian and Lauderdale County, including those children who are being treated unfairly by the juvenile justice system.”
District denies action, as of July 2011
While the Meridian School District itself is not the subject of the lawsuit, it is mentioned as taking part in the overall compliance with law enforcement, leading to the arrest of students.
School officials, however, are claiming that it does not take part in such practices. In an interview with MintPress, Taylor said law enforcement officials are only called for serious cases of lawlessness.
“Our practices now, starting July 1, are that we only call law enforcement when a student commits a felonious act, as defined by the State of Mississippi,” Taylor said, which includes the possession of a weapon or drugs and the commitment of a severe, violent act.
Taylor took over on July 1, 2011 as superintendent, at which point he was tasked with hiring a new team to fill vacant positions, including two assistant superintendents, a public relations officer, a director of human services and, in January 2011, a new chief financial officer. Neither Taylor nor district public relations officer Elizabeth McDonald would comment as to the reason for the vacancies and would not speak to allegations of misconduct before July 1, 2011.
McDonald told MintPress that the school district was not at all involved in the investigation and had not been contacted by the DOJ regarding allegations of a partnership between law enforcement and school disciplinary officials.
Who’s impacted?
“The department’s investigation showed that students most affected by this system are African-American children and children with disabilities,” according to a DOJ press release.
The student body of the Meridian School District has a student population that is 86 percent black, according to the DOJ. This is in contrast to the population of the city of Meridian, which includes a population of 62 percent black, 36 percent white. In addition, 13 percent of students in the district are identified as individuals with disabilities.
This concerns the DOJ, which included in its letter that, “Students in the district are expelled and suspended for longer than 10 days at a rate almost seven times the rate for Mississippi schools generally.”
In the press release, the DOJ states that an investigation was launched in December 2011, into whether there are violations of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which prohibits the deprivation of juvenile civil rights. This same investigation is looking into violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a precedent that prohibits racial discrimination by those who receive funding through federal financial assistance.