Mississippi's Oakley Training School (Penny Weaver)

Even after the U. S. Department of Justice found pervasive abuse at both of Mississippi's juvenile facilities, Columbia Training School continued to conceal its illegal and inhumane treatment of children by making it impossible for them to speak with lawyers. This practice effectively denies Columbia's youth any access to courts to protest the conditions of their confinement.

"Because of this unconstitutional policy, staff members at Columbia are free to abuse their young prisoners with no fear of accountability," said Center lawyer Danielle Lipow.

Sheila Bedi (Valerie Downes)

Filing the case was another arrow in the Center's quiver of reform efforts. On the ground in Mississippi since last fall is Center law fellow Sheila Bedi, who is using a variety of strategies to improve the state's juvenile justice system.

"We're representing children in state courts, we're organizing in the grassroots community, and we're working with the state legislature. And with the new lawsuit, we're using the federal courts to seek improvements," she said. "Attacking the state on all fronts is the only way to achieve real reform."

Center lawyer works with legislators
Largely through Bedi's efforts, the Mississippi House of Representatives on March 17 voted to establish a juvenile justice task force and advisory board.

"While the bill failed to pass the Senate before the legislature adjourned this spring, House members are proceeding with fact finding, holding community meetings and issuing recommendations," said Bedi, who is working closely with the legislators.

Bedi joined the Center in October after completing a two-year civil rights fellowship at the Georgetown University Law Center. She graduated cum laude from American University's Washington College of Law after earning an undergraduate degree at Michigan State University James Madison College. She is deeply committed to public interest law and has a special passion for prisoners' rights work.

The new class action, K.L.W. vs. James, was brought on behalf of a developmentally disabled 14-year old accused of stealing a cell phone. He was adjudicated delinquent after a five-minute hearing in February.

During a March visit, his mother was alarmed to see dark bruises circling her son's neck and wrists. Fearfully, K.L.W. told her that a security guard had choked him, tightly handcuffed him and threatened to increase his sentence if he told anyone.

Recent investigations by the federal government and the Mississippi legislature have shown that K.L.W. is not the only child at risk of harm at Columbia. More than 100 other children share his plight, some as young as 11.

"These are society's most vulnerable kids," said Lipow. "A recent study found that as many of 85 percent of children incarcerated in Mississippi suffer from a mental disorder, compared to fewer than 20 percent of youth in the general population."

Although only 36 percent of Mississippi's population is black, African Americans account for 80 percent of children incarcerated at Columbia.

Lipow and Bedi are working with the newly established Mississippi Center for Justice and a broad coalition of community groups in their juvenile justice reform efforts.

In addition to the new case, Center attorneys and attorneys with the Mississippi Center for Justice are representing children in Morgan vs. Sproat, another federal lawsuit seeking comprehensive reforms.

"So far, we've been very successful in creating momentum around the issue of juvenile justice," Bedi said. "Our biggest challenge going into the next legislative session will be transforming that momentum into real action. As long as we keep working hand-in-hand with the community, we have a good chance of doing that."

SPLC Report
June 2004