JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s largest county won a legal victory Wednesday in its effort to stave off a rare federal takeover of its jail, where a judge has found “ongoing unconstitutional conditions” for prisoners.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a lower court’s order putting the Raymond Detention Center into receivership until it rules on the county’s motion for reconsideration. The court can even have a look at whether the lower court’s injunction complies with the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a 1996 federal law that places restrictions on lawsuits brought by prisoners.
Hinds County officials applauded the move to delay work by the receiver, who attorneys for the county said can be “utterly unaccountable” to voters and taxpayers.
“We’re still facing the day-to-day challenges on the jail, but we’re thankful for the chance for an additional court to have a look at the situation and see that the Hinds County Sheriff and Hinds County Board of Supervisors have been doing something right in this case,” Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones told WLBT-TV.
On July 29, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves put the jail into receivership after citing poor conditions at the power. The judge said deficiencies in supervision and staffing result in “a shocking array of assaults, in addition to deaths.” Seven people died last 12 months while detained on the jail, he said.
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At that time, federal and state judges had ordered receiverships or the same transfer of control for prisons and jails only about eight times, in accordance with Hernandez Stroud, an attorney on the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
On Oct. 31, Reeves appointed Wendell M. France Sr., a public safety consultant, former correctional administrator and 27-year member of the Baltimore Police Department, to enhance conditions on the jail outside Jackson. France was scheduled to assume operational control over the jail on January 1, 2023.
In keeping with the terms of the receivership, France has 120 days from his appointment to develop a draft plan to enhance conditions on the jail.
In his ruling that prompted the federal intervention, Reeves wrote that cell doors didn’t lock and an absence of lighting in cells made life “miserable for the detainees who live there and prevents guards from adequately surveilling detainees.” He also said guards sometimes slept as an alternative of monitoring the cameras within the control room.
Jones said county officials were committed to fixing the problems on the jail, a lot of which stem from staffing shortages.
France is to be paid $16,000 a month, but Hinds County argues the expense will take money away from other services corresponding to roads, bridges and schools.
Along with delaying France’s work, the appeals court also sent the case back to the lower court to permit the district to “conduct additional proceedings concerning” the federal order.
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