Lauderdale County school-to-prison pipeline suit dismissed

Published 4:15 pm Tuesday, October 3, 2017

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Lauderdale County and two youth court judges, ending more than five years of dispute.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Sept. 30 dismissed the so-called school-to-prison pipeline suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2012.

Meridian attorney Charles Wright, who represented Lauderdale County Youth Court Judges Frank Coleman and Veldore Young, said the judges’ case was dismissed based primarily on “judicial immunity.”

“This was a very favorable ruling,” Wright said. “The two judges were adamant that they did not violate any of the constitutional rights of individuals, and they really were offended by the accusations of the DOJ. They had me aggressively defend them, which was supported by the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors.”

According to the DOJ complaint, the school-to-prison pipeline — or the Meridian Public School District to the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center — involves the defendants’ alleged neglect of students’ constitutional rights of children by incarcerating them for minor school rule infractions, denying their rights of due process and fairness and for the DYS’ role in providing probation services.

The DOJ began its investigation in 2011. Initially, Lauderdale County, judges Coleman and Young, the City of Meridian and the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and the Mississippi Division of Youth Services were defendants in the case. However, the city, DHS and DYS entered into a settlement agreement in September 2015. Wingate’s decision does not affect that agreement.

According to court documents filed on Sept. 30, “In sum, the United States wants this court to become the direct appellate court for Youth Court proceedings, thereby creating a ‘take-over’ of the state court procedures and systems…”

Wright said this would have had negative consequences for youth court had the judge ruled in the DOJ’s favor.

“The federal court cannot come in and dictate what our state court judges are doing in youth court matters,” Wright said. “That was my argument to the judge when I made my oral argument. It’s a complex matter.”