June 19, 2003
The Honorable Ronnie Musgrove
Governor of Mississippi
Office of the Governor
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
Re: CRIPA Investigation of Oakley and Columbia Training
Schools in Raymond and Columbia, Mississippi
Dear Governor Musgrove:
On May 8, 2002, we notified you of our intent to investigate
the Oakley Training School in Raymond, Mississippi (“Oakley”) and
the Columbia Training School in Columbia, Mississippi
(“Columbia”) pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997 (“CRIPA”), and the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. § 14141.
Consistent with the statutory requirements of CRIPA, we are
writing to report the findings of our investigation. At the
outset, we wish to express our appreciation for the complete
cooperation of the staff at the facilities, the Department of
Human Services, and the Attorney General’s Office during this
investigation.
On June 24-28, 2002 and July 16-17, 2002, we conducted onsite
inspections of Oakley with expert consultants in juvenile
justice administration, psychology, medicine, education, and
sanitation. On July 29-August 1, 2002 and September 25-27, 2002,
we inspected Columbia with all but the sanitation expert
consultant. We reviewed documents including, but not limited to,
policies and procedures, incident reports, medical and education
files, and facility maintenance records.
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We find that
conditions at Oakley and Columbia violate the constitutional and statutory
rights of juveniles.
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We find that conditions at Oakley and Columbia violate the
constitutional and statutory rights of juveniles. Youth confined
at Oakley and Columbia suffer harm or the risk of harm from
deficiencies in the facilities’ provision of mental health and
medical care, protection of juveniles from harm, and juvenile
justice management. There are also sanitation deficiencies at
Oakley. In addition, both facilities fail to provide required
general education services as well as education to eligible youth
as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(“IDEA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1401, et seq., and Section 504 of the
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Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794. Finally, we find
that Oakley and Columbia violate the youths’ First Amendment
rights by forcing them to engage in religious activities.
I. BACKGROUND
The Mississippi Department of Human Services operates Oakley
and Columbia through the Division of Youth Services. The average
length of stay for youth in the training schools is two to three
months, but some youth may stay up to six months or longer. The
majority of youth committed to Oakley and Columbia are nonviolent
offenders. For example, 75 percent of the girls at
Columbia are committed for status offenses, probation violations,
or contempt of court. The majority of boys at Oakley are
committed for property offenses, lower level drug possession
charges, or auto theft charges.
Youth offenders who are mentally ill or have mental
retardation are to be committed by the Mississippi youth courts1
to rehabilitation facilities operated by the Mississippi
Department of Mental Health. See MS ST §§ 41-21-109; 43-21-611.
Thus, we were told that youth with mental illness or mental
retardation are not confined at Oakley or Columbia. As discussed
in greater detail below, this is not the case.
A. Description of the Facilities
1. Oakley Training School
Oakley Training School, also known as the Mississippi Youth
Correctional Complex, sits on approximately 1,068 acres of land
surrounded by agricultural fields in Raymond, Mississippi, which
is approximately 30 minutes outside of Jackson, Mississippi.
Oakley is designed to function as a paramilitary program for
delinquent boys2 and is comprised of three operational units,
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1 Mississippi youth courts are divisions of either
chancery or county courts and have original jurisdiction in
proceedings involving delinquent, neglected or battered children.
2 Reportedly, the program imposes a military style
discipline on youth and is purported to promote a “vigorous
physical fitness training program.”
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Unit One, Unit Two, and Ironwood. Boys housed at Oakley range in
age from 10 to 17. At the time of our visit, 336 boys were
committed to Oakley.
Unit One is a large, under-utilized, self-contained building
with a housing capability of 275. Enclosed in a secure perimeter
fence, Unit One contains the intake unit with approximately four
separate cells, a medical infirmary, its own school, a small
modern gym, and outside recreational space. The intake unit is
where youth sent to Oakley are processed and evaluated, and
contains 11 separate living units known as pods, each designed to
hold approximately 20 juveniles. Each pod has a locked
correctional officer’s control room designed in a manner such
that no interaction between line staff and juveniles can occur.
During our visit, only three of the 11 pods were operational due
to staff shortages.
Unit Two consists of several unfenced buildings in a
traditional juvenile detention campus setting with a freestanding
school, vocational shops, a large cafeteria, a chapel,
and open space used for parade and military training. Unit Two
has eight living units known as cottages. The cottages hold
between 24 to 32 juveniles. Unit Two also has a separate unit
known as the Special Intervention Unit (“SIU”) for youth with
behavioral and disciplinary problems, and youth who are suicidal.
The SIU has 14 locked single cells and a large unfurnished day
room that is adjacent to the staff control room. During our
visit, approximately seven youth were confined to the SIU.
Ironwood, the third unit on the Oakley campus, is a freestanding
building housing boys aged 10 to 17. Ironwood is
described as a 90-day, therapeutic intensive treatment unit for
boys with behavioral problems from Units One and Two at Oakley
and transfers from Columbia. It is a self-contained maximum
security unit purportedly used for the most aggressive juveniles.
Youth who are considered difficult, have attempted to escape,
have been involved in assaults, or have serious emotional or
mental health problems are housed there. Ironwood can house 25
youths in locked single cells. Nineteen boys were confined in
Ironwood during our visit.
2. Columbia Training School
The Columbia Training School, located in Columbia,
Mississippi, is approximately two and one-half hours northwest of
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Gulfport, Mississippi. Like Oakley, Columbia sits on over 1,000
acres of land in an unfenced agricultural setting and purports to
use a military model for delinquent youth. Columbia, comprised
of several housing and administration buildings encircling a
large field in a cottage setting, has a medical clinic, a freestanding
school with a cafeteria, a chapel, and a gym. Columbia
houses girls aged 10 to 18 and boys aged 10 to 15. During our
site visit, 196 youth were committed to Columbia, 92 girls and
104 boys.
Columbia has two secure housing units, one for boys and the
other for girls, used in the same manner as the SIU at Oakley
with the added function of serving as the intake units for all
Columbia youth. The boys’ population in an SIU unit called
McGehee varied from seven to 12 during our tour. The girls’ SIU
population in a unit called Cleveland ranged from 10 to 12.
During our visit, only four residential cottages were being used
and only one of those housed girls, Hammond Cottage. Hammond
Cottage, designed to hold approximately 40 girls, has two
divisions: one side of the cottage houses girls rotating through
the basic training program and the other side houses the advanced
training programs. During our visit, the basic side of Hammond
housed 43 girls and the advanced side 37 girls. Many girls had
bunks in the hallways due to overcrowding. Boys were housed in
the other three cottages -- Rouse, Hugh-White, and Burrow. Rouse
is a boys’ basic program cottage for new commitments and housed
28 boys during our visit. Hugh-White is for basic program
participants who are re-committed to Columbia. Hugh-White housed
27 boys during our visit. Burrow is for boys in the advanced
phase of the program and housed 40 boys.
B. Legal Background
Youth adjudicated delinquent have a right to reasonably safe
confinement conditions and, at a minimum, should have the same
constitutional protections as adult pretrial detainees. See
Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307, 315-16 (1982) (holding that a
person with mental retardation committed to the state’s custody
has substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth
Amendment); Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535-36 (1979)
(Fourteenth Amendment standard applies to pretrial detainees);
Gary H. v. Hegstrom, 831 F.2d 1430, 1432 (9th Cir. 1987)
(applying the Fourteenth Amendment standard afforded adult
pretrial detainees to juveniles); Morgan v. Sproat, 432 F. Supp.
1130, 1135-36 (S.D. Miss. 1977) (in a case involving the rights
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of youth confined at Oakley, the court held that juveniles
adjudicated delinquent are entitled to substantive due process
protections under the Fourteenth Amendment); see also Morales v.
Turman, 383 F. Supp. 53, 120 (E.D. Tex. 1974) (“all juveniles
. . . are constitutionally entitled to care that at least
conforms to minimal professional standards,”), rev’d on other
grounds, 535 F.2d 864 (5th Cir. 1976), rev’d, 430 U.S. 322 (1977)
(per curiam), on remand 562 F.2d 993 (5th Cir. 1977 (court did
not reach definitive holding regarding existence of right to
treatment), on remand 569 F. Supp. 332 (E.D. Tex. 1983).
Adjudicated youth have a right to adequate education
instruction. See Morgan v. Sproat, 432 F. Supp. 1130, 1140-41
(S.D. Miss. 1977). Eligible youth also possess federal statutory
rights to education under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (“IDEA”), 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq. and Section 504
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 et seq. See
Alexander S. v. Boyd, 876 F. Supp. 773, 788 (D.S.C. 1995).
II. FINDINGS
Youth at Oakley and Columbia are confined in unsafe living
conditions and receive inadequate treatment and care. These
conditions exist mainly because of staff shortages, ineffective
management and supervision at every organizational level within
both facilities, and the facilities’ emphasis on control and
punishment instead of rehabilitation.
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Oakley and Columbia do not have any system of positive
incentives to manage youth, but instead rely on discipline and
force. This leads to unconstitutionally abusive disciplinary
practices such as hog-tying, pole-shackling, improper use and
overuse of restraints and isolation, staff assaulting youth, and
OC spray abuse.
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A. Protection from Harm
Oakley and Columbia do not have any system of positive
incentives to manage youth, but instead rely on discipline and
force. This leads to unconstitutionally abusive disciplinary
practices such as hog-tying, pole-shackling, improper use and
overuse of restraints and isolation, staff assaulting youth, and
OC spray abuse.
1. Abusive Disciplinary Practices at Columbia
(a) Hog-tying and Pole-Shackling
The use of restraints without penological justification is
cruel and unusual punishment. See Hope v. Pelzer, 122 S. Ct.
2508, 2514, 2518 (2002) (the unnecessary handcuffing of an inmate
to a hitching post after his disruptive behavior ended violated
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the Eighth Amendment). Youth reported and one staff member
confirmed incidents of hog-tying at Columbia in the boys’ and
girls’ SIUs and in Hammond Cottage. Approximately 10 to 15 boys
and girls consistently described the practice, where youth are
placed face down on the floor with their hands and feet shackled
and drawn together. That is, youths’ hands are handcuffed behind
their backs. Their feet are shackled together and then belts or
metal chains are wrapped around the two sets of restraints,
pulling them together. A 13-year-old boy, in the SIU on suicide
watch, told us that he had been hog-tied twice while in the SIU.
Another boy told us that he was hog-tied for refusing to follow
orders. Several girls in Hammond Cottage told us that either
they had been hog-tied or they had witnessed other girls being
hog-tied. They reported that girls are typically tied for three
hour periods in the corners of the cottage and stated that girls
were also hog-tied in the SIU. Girls also reported being hogtied
in a SIU cell called the “dark room.”
Contrary to Columbia’s policy that requires the documenting
of all uses of restraints, the practice is not documented in
incident reports or unit logbooks. When our expert consultant
discussed the apparent discrepancy between youth reports and lack
of incident report documentation, Columbia SIU staff either
denied that these incidents took place or reluctantly admitted
they may have occurred -- but not during their shifts. A senior
manager claimed it had been a long time since hog-tying had
occurred because the practice was “inhumane.” However, one
relatively new SIU staff person stated that hog-tying had
occurred in the boys’ SIU a few months prior to our visit.
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Thus, we have reason to believe that hog-tying occurs at
Columbia despite the lack of penological justification or
therapeutic or rehabilitative benefit to hog-tying.
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Thus, we have reason to believe that hog-tying occurs at
Columbia despite the lack of penological justification or
therapeutic or rehabilitative benefit to hog-tying. Columbia’s
own policies prohibit the use of restraints as punishment.
Columbia youth consistently reported another abusive
restraint practice. Youth reported that they had either observed
or experienced having their arms and legs shackled to poles in
public places. For instance, one young girl reported that her
arms and legs were handcuffed and shackled around a utility pole
because she was non-compliant during military exercises. The
rest of the unit was forced to perform military drills around
her. The youth was shackled for at least three hours, released
for lunch, and briefly shackled again. This incident was
witnessed and similarly described by other youth, both boys and
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girls. Another girl reported that two weeks prior to our visit,
she was shackled to a pole for talking in the cafeteria. Still
another girl reported that she was shackled to a pole for
approximately four hours because she did not say, “Yes, sir,” on
command. Again, this practice is not documented in incident
reports or unit logbooks in violation of Columbia’s restraint
policy. Not only is this abusive practice in violation of
Columbia’s policies, it is unlawful.
(b) The girls’ SIU
Girls in the SIU at Columbia are punished for acting out or
for being suicidal by being placed in a cell called the “dark
room.” The “dark room” is a locked, windowless isolation cell
with lighting controlled by staff. When the lights are turned
out, as the girls reported they are when the room is in use, the
room is completely dark. The room is stripped of everything but
a drain in the floor which serves as a toilet.
Most girls are stripped naked when placed in the “dark
room.” According to Columbia staff, the reason girls must remove
their clothing before being placed in the darkroom, is that there
is metal grating on the ceiling and the cell door which could be
used for hanging attempts by suicidal girls. Such suicidal
hazards should be remedied rather than requiring suicidal
children to strip naked.
One girl told us that the weekend prior to our visit, she
was placed naked in the “dark room” from Friday until Monday
morning. She stated that she was allowed out of the cell once a
day to take a shower, but received all her meals inside of the
cell. Another girl told us that in July 2002, she was placed in
the “dark room” with the lights off for three days with little
access to water as her requests for water were largely ignored.
While facility administrators told us that this room is
rarely used and if used, for no longer than a few hours at a
time, a number of girls reported being locked in the cell for as
long as three days to a week. There is no separate log book to
record the use of the “dark room” to substantiate the
administrators’ claims regarding the length of time the darkroom
is in use. To the contrary, log book entries for a three-month
period for the girls’ SIU indicate that the dark room often is
used overnight or over the weekend, particularly when the SIU is
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overcrowded, as well as used for punishment and for suicidal girls.
During our visit to the girls’ SIU at Columbia, there were
14 girls present. Nine of the girls had been locked in bare
cells for more than a week; one girl had been locked in a bare
cell for 114 days. The conditions we observed in the SIU are
particularly inhumane. The cells are extremely hot with
inadequate ventilation. Some girls are naked in a dark room
where they must urinate and defecate in a hole that they cannot
flush. Restraint chairs are use for punishment in violation of
Columbia’s own policy and procedures manual.3 OC spray is
sometimes used in response to a youth’s minor misbehavior. As
discussed earlier, sometimes, girls are hog-tied. Girls are
often not given access to basic necessities, such as water,
personal hygiene items, and bathroom facilities, and girls are
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Youth are awakened in the middle of the night,
required to get dressed, and walk inside the cottage for hours
with their hands to their heads
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not given sufficient mental health services. Given the
significant number of juvenile girls in Mississippi juvenile
facilities who suffer from various forms of mental disorders,
particularly separation anxiety disorder,4 the use of the SIU in
its present form should be banned at Columbia.5
(c) Other abusive practices at Columbia
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3 Columbia’s policy states that a restraint chair should
only be used if extreme force is necessary and that restraints,
in general, must not be used to punish. Generally accepted
professional standards mandate that restraint chairs be used only
for youth whose self-destructive or dangerous behavior cannot be
controlled safely in any other way; they should never be used as
punishment.
4 Girls in Mississippi juvenile justice facilities are
five to seven times more likely than boys to have a depression
disorder, and are two to five times more likely than boys to meet
the criteria for an anxiety disorder. Angela Robertson & Jonelle
Husain, Prevalence of Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
Disorders Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders 27-28 (2001).
5 See Lollis v. New York State Department of Social
Services, 322 F. Supp. 473, 482 (S.D.N.Y. 1970) (two-week
confinement of a 14-year-old girl dressed in night clothes in a
bare cell with no recreational facilities or reading matter is
cruel and unusual punishment).
overcrowded, as well as used for punishment and for suicidal
girls.
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Girls are punished in the military field by being forced to run with automobile tires
around their bodies or carrying logs. Girls reported being forced to eat their own
vomit if they throw-up while exercising in the hot sun.
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Youth at Columbia describe a number of abusive practices
imposed by staff. For example, youth report “sitting in a
chair,” in which youth are required to assume a sitting position
while holding their backs up against the wall with knees bent for
as long as 20 to 30 minutes. Youth also are forced to perform
“guard duty.” Youth are awakened in the middle of the night,
required to get dressed, and walk inside the cottage for hours
with their hands to their heads (similar to a military salute)
from bed to bed. In June 2002, according to the SIU log book, a
staff person was given permission to awaken the boys at midnight,
take away their mattresses and covers, and force them to perform
“guard duty.” Boys housed in the cottages are sent by drill
instructors to the SIU during the day for punishment for failing
to perform exercises. SIU staff confirmed that boys’ punishment
may last for hours and consists of running around tables in the
SIU day room with mattresses on their backs. Girls are punished
in the military field by being forced to run with automobile
tires around their bodies or carrying logs. Girls reported being
forced to eat their own vomit if they throw-up while exercising
in the hot sun.
Our juvenile justice expert consultant observed a cottage
staff person punish an entire cottage by forcing youth to run
inside the dorm room silently for at least 25 minutes while other
youth showered. We learned that prior to our visit, one youth
had broken his toe by hitting it on a bed while performing this
exercise.
These exercises and disciplinary practices serve no
penological or rehabilitative purpose. Many are cruel and
demeaning.6 They also are unsafe because, as our expert noted,
when this type of physical punishment is imposed, the facility
does not monitor the physical well-being of the youth.
2. Abusive Staff
(a) Assault
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6 See Morales v. Turman, 364 F. Supp. 166, 174 (E.D. Tex.
1973) (subsequent history omitted)(“Requiring [youth] to maintain
silence during periods of the day merely for purposes of
punishment, and to perform repetitive, nonfunctional, degrading,
and unnecessary tasks for many hours . . . constitutes cruel and
unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”).
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Based on our interviews with youth, our observations during
the tours, and review of documentation provided by the State, we
find that staff at Oakley and Columbia use excessive force with
impunity.
At Oakley, more than half of the youth in Ironwood reported
that staff had physically abused them. In Unit One, a number of
youth reported, and some line staff confirmed, that youth who are
re-committed to Oakley are taken to one of the isolation rooms in
the intake area and punched and slapped by staff as punishment
for being re-committed. Youth reported in Unit Two that staff
hit and physically assaulted other children. One such incident
was confirmed by staff members who reported that approximately
two weeks prior to our visit, a school counselor physically
abused a youth. This youth was choked by the counselor and sent
to Ironwood based on the counselor’s recommendation to the
facility director. The youth never received a hearing. We were
told by staff and youth that the counselor would never be held
accountable for the incident. Indeed, we received no written
incident or investigative reports concerning this incident.
When asked why abuses were allowed to occur at Oakley
without consequences to staff, we were told that staff shortages
inhibited the facility administration’s ability to follow-up on
youth’s complaints. Staff also stated that some staff abused
youth with impunity because they were favored by the
administration. When asked why staff did not report these
allegations, most staff responded that they feared retaliation.
In other cases, youth did not file complaints because they
believed that their concerns would not be investigated or
addressed. During our second tour of Oakley, we observed a
general assembly conducted by administration officials where a
number of the youth voiced concerns about being assaulted by
staff. For example, one youth stated that a staff person had
shoved his head into a toilet. The youth wanted to know how the
administration would respond to complaints. One administrative
official responded that youth were not allowed to defend
themselves against staff who assaulted them.
In the girls’ SIU at Columbia, staff reportedly have hit,
choked, and slapped girls. For instance, girls reported that a
ten-year-old girl was slapped by a male security guard. A young
boy in the boys’ SIU reported that before being taken to the SIU,
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security slapped him twice in the face and placed his neck in a
“sleeper hold.” 7
(b) OC Spray Abuse
Both at Oakley and Columbia, staff practices regarding the
use of OC spray amount to excessive force. According to the
facilities’ policy, OC spray may be used in only three
situations: to “quell a riot”; or to “prevent further injury
when students are fighting” and all other efforts to resolve the
fight have failed; or if a youth possesses a device “clearly
intended to be used as a weapon and refuses to disarm.” Incident
reports and youth complaints reflect that youth are sprayed
arbitrarily and in violation of facility policy and law. See
Alexander S. v. Boyd, 876 F. Supp. 773, 786 (D.S.C. 1995)
(indiscriminate use of OC spray violates youth’s constitutional
rights. OC spray should only be used when there is a risk of
serious bodily harm and no other less intrusive restraint is
available). At Columbia, boys in the SIU reported that staff
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A suicidal girl was sprayed because she refused to
remove her clothes before being placed in the “dark room.”... boys
are sprayed in the face while they were hog-tied.
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sprayed under their locked cell doors and that staff sprayed boys
in the face while they were hog-tied. Boys also told us that
staff sprayed into the air while boys were doing exercises for
punishment in the SIU. Incident reports make clear that suicidal
youth are sprayed for their suicidal gestures and behaviors and
that youth locked in isolation rooms who bang on the door of
their cell are sprayed. A log entry for the SIU in May 2002
indicates that a suicidal girl was sprayed because she refused to
remove her clothes before being placed in the “dark room.”
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A 13-year-old boy was sprayed because he did not
perform exercises. Reportedly, he was punished further by being
forced to do 100 squat thrusts, 100 push ups, and 100 jumping
jacks.
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Youth at Columbia reported that staff routinely sprayed
youth for failing to perform military exercises. Our review of
incident reports confirms that OC spray is used for this purpose.
For example, a 13-year-old boy was sprayed because he did not
perform exercises. Reportedly, he was punished further by being
forced to do 100 squat thrusts, 100 push ups, and 100 jumping
jacks. One girl, prior to being sent to the SIU, had difficulty
keeping up with the group during exercise in the parade field.
She yelled to a staff person that it was hot and to “shut up
talking to me.” Security was called and she was sprayed in the
face. Youth also talked extensively about “running the ridge,” a
___________________
7 Youth told us that in order to be placed in a sleeper
hold, a security officer stands behind a youth with his arm
around the neck of the youth, cutting off the ability to breath.
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form of intensive running on the campus grounds.8 Youth who
refuse to run the ridge are reportedly sprayed by staff.
On the Oakley campus, staff at Ironwood and Unit One use
excessive force, spraying OC to control youth who misbehave or
who are noncompliant. For example, a youth in Unit One was
sprayed for refusing to go into his cell. In another case, two
youths were sprayed in Ironwood as they engaged in horseplay.
Finally, based on our document review and conversations with
staff and juveniles, OC spray use at both facilities often is
undocumented and unreported. We find that OC spray is used
regularly at both facilities for minor infractions or for
punishment.
3. Investigation of Abuse Allegations
Oakley and Columbia do not have systemic internal and
external review processes of abuse allegations to ensure that
investigations are conducted thoroughly and objectively.
(a) Internal Review
All abuse allegations are not being investigated internally
at the facilities or by the Division of Youth Services. Oakley
and Columbia share an investigator who investigates allegations
of abuse, when reported to him by the facility administrators.
The investigator also functions as the “military coordinator.”
The investigator conducts a limited perfunctory investigation and
submits brief investigative reports and summary recommended
courses of action to the Director of the Division of Youth
Services for approval. However, the investigator’s authority to
conduct abuse investigations is not clearly defined. As a
result, we found that Oakley and Columbia administrators are not
held accountable if they fail to report all allegations to the
investigator.
In addition, youth reported feeling prohibited from
reporting abuse allegations. Youth at both facilities stated
that they did not report staff abuse because they believed that
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8 “Running the ridge” is a practice where staff force
youth to repeatedly run up and down the upper fields of the
Columbia grounds at a fast pace.
