Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarUnited States Courthouse for the Southern District in Jackson.

Plaintiffs argued in federal court Monday that the Mississippi Department of Corrections failed to provide constitutionally mandated care to East Mississippi Correctional inmates. Defendants countered, saying that the facility is under new management since the 2013 lawsuit was originally filed.

Both sides gave opening arguments Monday in the U.S. Southern District Court in Jackson before Judge William H. Barbour Jr.

Elissa Johnson, one of the attorneys from the Southern Poverty Law Center representing the inmates, said MDOC has failed its constitutional mandate to inmates.

“MDOC has been aware of these violations for years and has done nothing,” Johnson said, citing high rates of assault and use of force in the facility.

Johnson, and her fellow attorneys from several law firms, concentrated on seven specific areas: use of isolation, excessive use of force, lack of protection from harm, sanitation, environmental conditions, physical health and mental health.

Johnson described doors that didn’t lock, prisoners who waited days before receiving medical treatment and occurence of contraband in the facility.

“EMCF is far above any acceptable level of violence,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that expert witnesses for the plaintiffs indicated that the facility was understaffed.

Defendants used two firms to counter the plaintiffs claims: Phelps Dunbar and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, both of Jackson. Bradley, etc. handled the claims regarding physical health and mental health while Phelps Dunbar addressed the remaining five concerns.

The defense invited Barbour to tour the facilities himself to see the conditions.

“We believe we are more than adequately staffed,” W. Thomas Silar Jr., with Phelps Dunbar, said. “I don’t think the court will find any current or ongoing action that is in violation of the eighth amendment.”

The eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects citizens from cruel and unusual punishment, which plaintiffs allege has occurred a EMCF.

The defense discussed how since the lawsuit, EMCF has transferred from the GEO Group to the Management and Training Corporation. For healthcare, the state contracted Health Assurance.

Dr. Carl Reddix, who owned Health Assurance, was sentenced to six years in a bribery scheme that included former MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps.

“I think it’s safe to say… (the new warden, Frank Shaw) found a facility in some state of disrepair that was not well managed,” Silar said. “As he’ll tell you, the facility has changed a great deal. He is proud of what he has done.”

Both the defense and the plaintiffs said that more than 80 percent of inmates at East Mississippi Correctional Facility have some form of a mental health diagnosis.

Michael Bentley, with Bradley, etc., who introduced the conviction of Reddix, said both Reddix and Epps are gone, “and we’re not here to defend their criminal conduct… this case is not about what was happening in 2015, but what is happening in the prison today.”

Eldon Vail, the plaintiff’s expert witness, disagreed, saying he believe the facility was understaffed.

“I concluded that it’s a very dangerous facility with significant risk of harm and some actual harm,” Vail, with nearly 35 years of experience in the state of Washington’s department of corrections, said.

Vail cited his experience in prisons across the county, saying many of the problems with the facility stemmed from the understaffing. Vail said that prisoners, especially prisoners with mental illnesses, needed correctional officers in the units to maintain order.

“It’s my opinion that there are not enough correctional officers to establish basic control,” Vail said. “They can’t establish enough control of the units to stop (assaults, etc.) from happening.”

Vail testified for approximately an hour before Barbour adjurned the bench trial until 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“This is not a normal prison. It is an extraordinarily dangerous prison,” Vail said.