Meridian Mississippi sued for school-to-prison pipeline

[Winehole23]

Federal civil rights lawyers filed suit Wednesday against Meridian, Mississippi, and other defendants for operating what the government calls a school-to-prison pipeline (http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/us/mississippi-juvenile-justice/index.html) in which students are denied basic constitutional rights, sent to court and incarcerated for minor school infractions.

The lawsuit says children who talk back to teachers, violate dress codes and commit other minor infractions are handcuffed and sent to a youth court where they are denied their rights.

It's the first time a jurisdiction has been charged under a law designed to protect the due process rights of juveniles in such circumstances.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/24/justice/mississippi-civil-rights-lawsuit/index.html

[Winehole23]

happens in Texas too. JP court in Fulton, Tx was doing this just a few years back.

[TeyshaBlue]

Whoa. Sounds kinda FoxConn-ish.

[boutons_deux]

This started after the Civil War in the South. "convict lease"

Blacks would get jailed for trivial, and/or fabricated offenses, then made to work free on chain gangs. iow, slavery continued.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_lease

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/21st_century_chain_gangs/

convicts cost taxpayers about $25K/year.

When private corps employ convicts for near-slave wages, it's corporate welfare.

[Th'Pusher]

Boutons - do you have any info on the penal industrial complex?

[RandomGuy]

Boutons - do you have any info on the penal industrial complex?

http://www.google.com/search?q=private+use+of+prisoners

Not too hard to find.

One would probably not have to look too far to find conflicts of interest at the very least, if not MUCH worse as the OP notes.

It leads me to wonder how much "get tough on crime" sentiment was being driven by moneyed interests that benefit from prison labor.

[boutons_deux]

"It leads me to wonder how much "get tough on crime" sentiment was being driven by moneyed interests that benefit from prison labor."

can't remember which, but guys who were close to/advisors to the gov in AZ or NV also lobbied/work for a private prison corp when the state started imprisoning illegal aliens more aggressively.

govt corrupt, private profit, public pays.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The equal rights amendment made it so you can no longer use minorities legally as a lower caste. The south has had that means of doing things for the entirety of it's existence. Although not remotely so egregious, I find the individual mandate to be of a similar ethic as this shit.

The establishment needs their niggas and since they cannot use black people or other minorities outright anymore they are looking for new outlets. Why pay taxes yourself when you can take advantage of the poor, ignorant and dispossessed.

[Trill Clinton]

smh can we just live our lives?

damn, black people can't catch a break.

[Koolaid_Man]

smh can we just live our lives?

damn, black people can't catch a break.

we must continue to fight the power by educating and empowering the young black youth...

Let this spin for the youth....and we pray that God will guide us through this life...and if not then forgive us for being lost...as Malcolm X said: " By Any Means Necessary"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jknbN7IlvsUand fighting back...

[dbestpro]

Our criminal court system is the most failed system of government that no one in government seems to care about.

[Winehole23]

In a daylong hearing, members of the Senate criminal justice and education committees listened to testimony from more than two dozen witnesses who said that discipline is being too harshly applied in some school districts, that it is being unfairly applied and that tens of thousands of teen-aged students are unwittingly getting criminal records for minor rules violations.


Under state law enacted in the 1990s, school districts can have police departments that can write tickets to students without even witnessing the crime.


Teachers and advocacy groups testified that what started as a safe-schools program has gotten out of control. Police organizations complained they are tired of writing Class C misdemeanor tickets. Courts officials called for reforms.
Last year alone, more than 953,000 students last year ended up facing police tickets and fines, kicked out of classes or school, even arrested for disciplinary violations. More than 120,000 of them got tickets.


According to a study by the Council of State Governments that tracked 928,000 Texas students from seventh to 12th grade from 2000 to 2007, African-Americans were more likely to be disciplined than other students. Eighty-three percent of African-American males picked up at least one “discretionary” violation — the least serious, mostly for minor rules violations —and one fourth of them received 11 or more.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/senators-delve-into-school-discipline-find-unfair-/nSr56/

[boutons_deux]

Our criminal court system is the most failed system of government that no one in government seems to care about.

the PIC cares intensively about the criminal court system, and pays politicians, elected judges, prosecutors, etc to keep the USA's World Champion stream of prisoners flowing.

[Winehole23]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/30/51809.htm

[boutons_deux]

Lotsa stories about unarmed, aka non-threatening, suspects running away from cops and get shot to death. Seems like the policy is ALWAYS shoot to kill in every case.

[boutons_deux]

Why Are Kids Being Tried in Kangaroo Courts?

Of all the constitutional rights afforded to Americans, the right to counsel is one of the most well known. In movies and TV shows, cops recite Miranda rights immediately upon arresting anyone, informing suspects of their right to an attorney even if they cannot afford one. This protection for indigent defendants was ensured by the Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963; four years later, another case established due process rights for children. In that case, called In re Gault (http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/constitution-activities/sixth-amendment/right-counsel/facts-case-summary-gault.aspx), the court ruled that "Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court."

But in juvenile courts across the country, children often face the full weight of the criminal justice system without the protection of a defense attorney.

According to a report (http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/cev-rpt-full.pdf) from the U.S. Attorney General's office, "Some systems ensure that every child in the system is represented, while others allow 80-90 percent of youth who are charged with offenses to appear without counsel." Children may be unrepresented for a variety of reasons, including lack of access to a public defender or pressure from judges or prosecutors to waive their constitutional right to an attorney.

Earlier this month, Colorado scored a victory for juveniles in criminal proceedings by passing House Bill 1032, a law that will ensure that all children will be represented by counsel when they appear in court. The Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition (CJDC) found in 2012 that at least 45 percent of juveniles (http://cjdc.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Kids-Without-Counsel_Final.pdf) did not have a defense lawyer at any point throughout their case, with many more receiving counsel late in proceedings. Kim Dvorchak, CJDC's executive director, says that early advocacy is crucial for children who have been arrested. "There are many places statewide where kids are showing up in a jumpsuit and shackles and the judge is deciding whether they get to go home," she says, "and no one is there making an argument for them."

Dvorchak says there's a similar problem for children who receive summonses and have to appear in court. Those are called "first appearances," and many children face them with literally no defense attorney in the room. "You'll have a busload of kids and families in the room," she says. "There will be a prosecutor there who calls out their names, talks to them right there in open court in front of all the families, let's them know, 'I've reviewed your case and I'm offering you a plea bargain.'" Without a lawyer, she says, those families have no one to tell them the potential impact of accepting a plea – and they may feel pressure to plead guilty even if their child is innocent. "They may think, 'Oh probation, that sounds good, you're not putting my kid in jail.' But they're not understanding what probation will mean for their lives."

The punishments handed down in juvenile court can be long-lasting and devastating, despite the young age of the defendants. Colorado does not have automatic expungement for juvenile records, and Dvorchak says that a conviction can haunt a child just like it can an adult. "These cases aren't going away. The University of Colorado asks if you've ever pled guilty in juvenile court, even if the case has been dismissed," she says. "We need to strengthen due process if we're holding these cases over kids' heads for the rest of their lives."

Juvenile court isn't the only part of the criminal justice system where children are denied representation. Hundreds of thousands of children in immigration court are also denied defense lawyers – but there, unlike in criminal court, they don't even have a legal right to one. The right to indigent defense does not apply to immigration law for adults or children. That means that undocumented children entering the country may find themselves in deportation proceedings without the assistance of counsel. "I've seen kids as young as five go into court without a lawyer," says Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), which represents unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children. And, she says, the number of children apprehended and into federal custody each year is skyrocketing – it's increased from between 6,000-8,000 children per year before 2011 to 25,000 in 2013. This year, the numbers are on track to reach 60,000 children in 2014. Unless those kids are represented by volunteer attorneys like those provided by KIND, they appear in court completely on their own.

While HB 1032 is a victory for the youth of Colorado, it shines light on the much larger problem of children entrenched in the criminal justice system, denied advocates who can help them. Dvorchak believes that more resources should be devoted to ensuring that juvenile courts provide accessible, high-quality indigent defense systems. To deny the justice system's youngest and most vulnerable clients their constitutional rights, she says, does a disservice not only to children, but to due process. When it comes to juvenile justice, she says, "We can't even begin to work on the other issues we have until we get a lawyer there at the outset."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-are-kids-being-tried-in-kangaroo-courts-20140516#ixzz31uZ1YQUl

American Civilization, what's not to love?

[angrydude]

Just more american freedoms we gotta protect

[RandomGuy]

Why Are Kids Being Tried in Kangaroo Courts?

Of all the constitutional rights afforded to Americans, the right to counsel is one of the most well known. In movies and TV shows, cops recite Miranda rights immediately upon arresting anyone, informing suspects of their right to an attorney even if they cannot afford one. This protection for indigent defendants was ensured by the Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963; four years later, another case established due process rights for children. In that case, called In re Gault (http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/constitution-activities/sixth-amendment/right-counsel/facts-case-summary-gault.aspx), the court ruled that "Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court."

But in juvenile courts across the country, children often face the full weight of the criminal justice system without the protection of a defense attorney.

According to a report (http://www.justice.gov/defendingchildhood/cev-rpt-full.pdf) from the U.S. Attorney General's office, "Some systems ensure that every child in the system is represented, while others allow 80-90 percent of youth who are charged with offenses to appear without counsel." Children may be unrepresented for a variety of reasons, including lack of access to a public defender or pressure from judges or prosecutors to waive their constitutional right to an attorney.

Earlier this month, Colorado scored a victory for juveniles in criminal proceedings by passing House Bill 1032, a law that will ensure that all children will be represented by counsel when they appear in court. The Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition (CJDC) found in 2012 that at least 45 percent of juveniles (http://cjdc.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Kids-Without-Counsel_Final.pdf) did not have a defense lawyer at any point throughout their case, with many more receiving counsel late in proceedings. Kim Dvorchak, CJDC's executive director, says that early advocacy is crucial for children who have been arrested. "There are many places statewide where kids are showing up in a jumpsuit and shackles and the judge is deciding whether they get to go home," she says, "and no one is there making an argument for them."

Dvorchak says there's a similar problem for children who receive summonses and have to appear in court. Those are called "first appearances," and many children face them with literally no defense attorney in the room. "You'll have a busload of kids and families in the room," she says. "There will be a prosecutor there who calls out their names, talks to them right there in open court in front of all the families, let's them know, 'I've reviewed your case and I'm offering you a plea bargain.'" Without a lawyer, she says, those families have no one to tell them the potential impact of accepting a plea – and they may feel pressure to plead guilty even if their child is innocent. "They may think, 'Oh probation, that sounds good, you're not putting my kid in jail.' But they're not understanding what probation will mean for their lives."

The punishments handed down in juvenile court can be long-lasting and devastating, despite the young age of the defendants. Colorado does not have automatic expungement for juvenile records, and Dvorchak says that a conviction can haunt a child just like it can an adult. "These cases aren't going away. The University of Colorado asks if you've ever pled guilty in juvenile court, even if the case has been dismissed," she says. "We need to strengthen due process if we're holding these cases over kids' heads for the rest of their lives."

Juvenile court isn't the only part of the criminal justice system where children are denied representation. Hundreds of thousands of children in immigration court are also denied defense lawyers – but there, unlike in criminal court, they don't even have a legal right to one. The right to indigent defense does not apply to immigration law for adults or children. That means that undocumented children entering the country may find themselves in deportation proceedings without the assistance of counsel. "I've seen kids as young as five go into court without a lawyer," says Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), which represents unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children. And, she says, the number of children apprehended and into federal custody each year is skyrocketing – it's increased from between 6,000-8,000 children per year before 2011 to 25,000 in 2013. This year, the numbers are on track to reach 60,000 children in 2014. Unless those kids are represented by volunteer attorneys like those provided by KIND, they appear in court completely on their own.

While HB 1032 is a victory for the youth of Colorado, it shines light on the much larger problem of children entrenched in the criminal justice system, denied advocates who can help them. Dvorchak believes that more resources should be devoted to ensuring that juvenile courts provide accessible, high-quality indigent defense systems. To deny the justice system's youngest and most vulnerable clients their constitutional rights, she says, does a disservice not only to children, but to due process. When it comes to juvenile justice, she says, "We can't even begin to work on the other issues we have until we get a lawyer there at the outset."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-are-kids-being-tried-in-kangaroo-courts-20140516#ixzz31uZ1YQUl

American Civilization, what's not to love?




Simply yet another sick way in which being "tough on crime" is not only fiscally moronic, but morally reprehensible.

But hey, let's have 10 threads on Benghazi, because that is more important.


(... to GOP presidential ambitions)

(rolls eyes)

[boutons_deux]

The Jaw-Dropping Prison Pipeline No One Talks About






http://upw-prod-images.global.ssl.fastly.net/nugget/5392e061af25ee0c05000023/attachments/DisabilityToCriminality9-8f113d578076176af56164e8b09c5b40.jpg

[Winehole23]

Schools treating disciplinary matters as criminal ones merely because police are handy.

Marquette Co Sheriff got a pants down spanking for threatening a student and her family with arrest if she didn't take down an Instagram post


Last year, a Wisconsin student sued (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200421/13444844345/sheriff-sued-after-threatening-to-arrest-high-school-student-over-her-coronavirus-related-instagram-posts.shtml) the local sheriff and one of his officers for turning an Instagram post of hers into a criminal matter. The student, Amyiah Cohoon, had returned from a spring break trip with her school band and been admitted to a hospital with COVID-like symptoms. Her Instagram photos of her in the hospital were accompanied by statements that she had the coronavirus and wouldn't be back to school anytime soon.


It turned out Cohoon did not have COVID. School administrators decided Cohoon was trying to provoke a panic by falsely claiming she did. They sent out a statement basically calling Cohoon a liar. Then they sent the local sheriff's department after her. This is from her lawsuit (https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6843541/complaint20-20final-2.pdf):



During the evening on March 27, Defendant Patrol Sergeant Cameron Klump from the Marquette County Sheriff’s office came to the Cohoons’ home. Amyiah answered the door, and Sergeant Klump said he needed to speak with her father.


After Mr. Cohoon came outside, Sergeant Klump explained that the school “superintendent” had complained to Defendant Sheriff Joseph Konrath about one of Amyiah’s Instagram posts. Sergeant Klump showed Mr. Cohoon a screenshot of Amyiah’s third Instagram post. A true and accurate copy of the cropped screenshot Sergeant Klump showed Mr. Cohoon is attached hereto as Exhibit 5.


Sergeant Klump stated that he had direct orders from Sheriff Konrath to demand that Amyiah delete this post, and, if she did not, to cite Amyiah and/or her parents for disorderly conduct and to “start taking people to jail.”


Faced with possibly having her parents arrested, the student deleted her posts. Then she sued. And the court has now told Sheriff Joseph Konrath what he already likely knew: threatening her (and her parents) with arrest over Instagram posts was a clear violation of her First Amendment rights. (h/t Gabriel Malor (https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/status/1441490073883656197))
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210925/17252147630/court-to-sheriff-sending-officer-to-tell-teen-to-delete-instagram-posts-is-so-very-obviously-rights-violation.shtml

[Winehole23]

wild story from Tennessee


Hamlett started as a judicial commissioner in 2008, making $8.50 an hour. Her application listed a high school diploma, and no college. Her previous job was in a small-town post office where her responsibilities included “computer work and general office duties.”


When Hamlett came up with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another” as a possible charge, there was a problem. It’s not an actual charge. There is no such crime. It is rather a basis upon which someone can be accused of a crime. For example, a person who caused someone else to commit robbery would be charged with robbery, not “criminal responsibility.”


But in the judicial commissioners’ office that Friday afternoon, 10 petitions were issued, each charging a child with “criminal responsibility.” The petitions didn’t distinguish the kids’ actions; the documents were cookie-cutter, saying each child “encouraged and caused” two other juveniles to commit an assault.
Templeton signed each petition. Anderson also signed at least some of them. Templeton then left the judicial commissioners’ office, the 10 petitions in hand.
After the four arrests at Hobgood, other children named in the petitions were brought in by their parents or rounded up by police.
https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist
https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/image/svg xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F20 00%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27400%27%20height%3D%27335% 27%20style%3D%27background%3Argba%28127%2C127%2C12 7%2C0.07%29%27%2F%3E

[Winehole23]

In the United States, it is typically the prosecutor’s job to review a police investigation and decide what charges, if any, to file. But Tennessee allows counties to hire judicial commissioners to fill this role. From issuing warrants to setting bail to conducting probable cause hearings, Rutherford County’s judicial commissioners can take on tasks that traditionally fall to judges or prosecutors — without needing the legal training of either.


County judges recommend people for the job. County commissioners appoint them.


Rutherford County opens the job to anyone with a Tennessee driver’s license and a high school diploma, supplemented by some college-level course work or vocational training and some office work.

[Winehole23]

When police took the 12-year-old twins to the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center on Saturday, April 16, 2016, the odds that either would be jailed were long, at least under Tennessee law.


Recognizing the harm that can come from incarcerating kids, Tennessee lawmakers have placed narrow limits on when a child accused of being delinquent can be held in a secure lockdown prior to receiving a court hearing. The child must fit one of six categories, precisely defined. They include being a jail escapee; being wanted elsewhere for a felony offense; or being accused, on substantial evidence, of a crime resulting in serious injury or death.


These two 12-year-olds were charged on negligible evidence with a crime that’s not an actual crime for something in which no one was seriously hurt.


Rutherford County, however, had its own system for deciding whether to keep a child under lock and key. Its written procedure, imprecise and broad, boiled down to whether a child was considered by jailers to be a “TRUE threat.” Jailers allowed the 12-year-old girl to go home. But they locked up her twin brother. Of the 10 children charged in this case, all Black, four were girls and six were boys. Every girl was released. Of the boys, four were jailed, according to court records.


Those four boys became a small part of a big group. In the fiscal year that encompassed April 2016, Rutherford County jailed 986 children for a total of 7,932 days.

[Winehole23]

cray


When the new center opened in 2008, Duke incorporated a “filter system” into the jail’s written manual. When police arrest a child, they bring the child to jail. There, under the system, staff decide whether to hold the child before a detention hearing, which could take place days later. Say a child is hauled in for something minor, like skipping school. Under the filter system, the child would be locked up if deemed “unruly.” But the filter system defines “unruly” simply as “a TRUE threat,” while “TRUE threat” is not defined at all.


So any child, no matter the charge, who is considered a “TRUE threat,” however that’s interpreted, can end up being locked up.

[Winehole23]

holee fuk


Based on their access to the usually confidential records, the lawyers created a spreadsheet showing that more than 50 kids, identified by their initials, had been jailed for offenses that wouldn’t be crimes if they were adults. While most were 14 or older, exceptions abounded. C.V., D.L. and J.S., all age 13, were locked up for being “unruly”; J.B., age 12, for “truancy”; and A.W., age 11, for “runaway.”


The lawyers obtained the jail’s intake procedures, detailing how kids are required to shower while watched by a staff member of the same sex. “Constant visual shall be maintained,” the procedures say. All braids shall be removed, and every scar, mark and tattoo, unless “located in a private area,” photographed.

[Winehole23]

solitary confinement for kiddies


By that time, President Barack Obama had banned solitary confinement for kids in federal prison, citing the “devastating, lasting psychological consequences.” But Rutherford County allowed isolation in eight ascending levels, calling it “crucial” that kids “understand there are consequences for all behaviors.” Level 1 was for 12 hours. Level 8 was indefinite.


The lawyers for E.J. also represented Quinterrius, in what became a second class action. That federal lawsuit ended with Rutherford County being permanently banned from punishing kids with solitary. A federal judge called the practice inhumane. The county, in settling, did not admit any wrongdoing.

[RandomGuy]

wow. Seriously... just wow.

Here is the governmental tyranny that the nutbars are talking about.

but for some reason (black kids cough cough) they seem unconcerned and ignore.

You can bet your ass you won't see a thread on this by Nathan, which says all you need to know about his schtick.

[Winehole23]

1446505795311464449

[DMC]

Oh that's appalling.

[boutons_deux]

this another facet of CRT

brutality and aggression by LE to black kids, with none to white kids


In a California Desert, Sheriff’s Deputies Settle Schoolyard Disputes. Black Teens Bear the Brunt.

Deputies in California’s Antelope Valley are disproportionately citing Black teens, often for minor infractions, like getting in fights or smoking. “They’re turning the principal’s office into the police station,” said one lawyer.

a growing movement, driven primarily by Black and Latino residents, to get LASD deputies off school campuses.

this valley at the western edge of the Mojave Desert, population roughly 500,000, has a long history of racial tension, including white supremacist attacks on Black community members.

Some of his Black students had complained that they were treated differently than white kids caught doing the same things, like fighting, disrupting class or smoking cigarettes.

the culture on campus, fearing it encouraged staff to turn Black students over to law enforcement.

In 2013, a Department of Justice investigation found that LASD deputies there had violated the Constitution,

including by conducting discriminatory and illegal searches and seizures primarily affecting Black residents.

https://www.propublica.org/article/in-a-california-desert-sheriffs-deputies-settle-schoolyard-disputes-black-teens-bear-the-brunt

[Winehole23]

Oh that's appalling.you didn't read it, did you?

[DMC]

you didn't read it, did you?

I am agreeing with the outrage.

[Winehole23]

Qualified immunity because the facts fit no previous case

Read through, it's worse than you might think

1450868836710985728

[RandomGuy]

Oh that's appalling.

About the best word for it. Hope she spends the rest of her life in prison.

[Winehole23]

solitary confinement for kiddiesJudge Davenport announces retirement one hour after ProPublica story drops

1483588543423270912

[ElNono]

Judge Davenport announces retirement one hour after ProPublica story drops

1483588543423270912

The sad part is that apparently she can just do that and avoid any accountability.

[Winehole23]

Fl:lolrida

Seems kinda weird that contemplated Brevard County school policies are being announced at a jail, by the sheriff with no questions asked or answered. Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't make me feel like Brevard County schools are a safe place for kids.

1598119725178900485

[Millennial_Messiah]

Keep them in jail. If they bring drugs to school, jail time. They need to be taught lessons early because permissive administration is what leads to the kids growing up thinking they have carte blanche to commit any (violent) crimes up to and including mass murder.

Law and order. Good times make weak men; weak men make hard times; hard times make strong men, and strong men make good times. It's cyclical.

[Winehole23]

Keep them in jail. If they bring drugs to school, jail time. They need to be taught lessons early because permissive administration is what leads to the kids growing up thinking they have carte blanche to commit any (violent) crimes up to and including mass murder.

Law and order. Good times make weak men; weak men make hard times; hard times make strong men, and strong men make good times. It's cyclical.that's bonkers