Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarA group listens to city officials describe reforms implemented as part of the DOJ settlement agreement to fix the 'school-to-prison pipeline' in Meridian in December, 2016.

The Mississippi Division of Youth Services in Lauderdale County will hold a meeting this week to update the community on the ongoing “school-to-prison” lawsuit with the United States Department of Justice. 

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5 at the First Union Missionary Baptsist Church at 610 38th Avenue in Meridian. 

In 2011, the DOJ started an investigation into the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County, later adding and Mississippi the Division of Youth Services or DYS (a part of the Department for Human Services) for a ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline from Meridian Public School District to the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center. 

A DOJ complaint, filed in 2012, alleged the defendants neglected the constitutional rights of children by incarcerating them for minor school rule infractions, denying their court rights of due process and fairness and, for the DYS, their role in probation services provided.

“Defendants’ concerted actions punish children in Meridian, Mississippi so arbitrarily and severely as to shock the conscience, and deprive these children of liberty and educational opportunities on an ongoing basis,” said the complaint.

Once ordered to supervised probation from the Youth Court in Lauderdale County, the children receive advise about their legal rights from “youth counselors” (probation officers) (DOJ quotations and parenthesis) from the DYS. 

“The standard probation contract used by youth counselors and the Youth Court in Lauderdale County contains a provision that reads: “MANDATORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE WITH NO SUSPENSIONS, UNEXCUSED ABSENCES, OR TARDIES. ALL SUSPENSIONS FROM SCHOOL WILL BE SERVED IN DETENTION.” (emphasis in original)… The term “In Dentention” in the probation contract refers to incarceration in the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ said that this broad phrasing does not help children understand what behavior lead to their incarceration, that youth counselors couldn’t explain what certain paragraphs of the contract meant to the children who signed them and that the DYS didn’t safeguard the constitutional rights of the juveniles. 

“Defendants Lauderdale County and Division of Youth Services violate the consitutional due process rights of juveniles through their policies, procedures and practices with respect to probation and probation revocation for children in the Lauderdale County juvenile justice system,” the DOJ said.

In September of 2015, the state and city entered into a settlement agreement in which they admitted no legal liability. Both agreed to various reforms regarding policies, practices and training. The DOJ case against Lauderdale County and Lauderdale County Youth Court Judges has not yet been resolved and remains in litigation.

The settlement agreement orders that community input meetings be held every six months to update the community on their progress. The DOJ required these meetings be held every six months and publicized through print media, radio and Internet one week prior.

The state has been audited twice by an independent reviewer, chosen by both parties. 

The latest review, in July, gave the DYS partial compliance on nearly every provision, stating that the agency had taken significant steps towards compliance with the settlement agreement. The report said the DYS had significantly revised the probation contract, developed and refined the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth and increased their data collection and documentation. 

The auditor recommended that materials be given to youth and their families explaining the process in language they could understand, staff training in communicating with disabled youths and an update to internal policies. 

DYS held its first public meeting in July, when the auditor made their second visit. The meeting invited a smaller group of ‘stakeholders,’ community leaders and representatives from the NAACP, to attend and discuss community relations at the Meridian Police Department headquarters. At the meeting, attendees agreed to hold the next meeting in a more neutral location at a local church, according to the audit. 

The Meridian Police Department had their first settlement agreement meeting last month. Of the community members who attended, many expressed a concern for the youths, many now adults with children of their own, who went through the “pipeline.”

No community agenda has been released, but according to the agreement, a representative from the DYS will attend as well as a representative from the United States. The meeting should include a summary of the Action Plan and Compliance Reports.