Monday, November 29, 2010

"Barbaric" Conditions at Youth Jail

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU have sued the GEO Group over alleged "barbaric" conditions at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi.  Among the egregious abuses that took place at the facility is the case of a young man who was restrained to his bunk bed for 24 hours and repeatedly sexually assaulted, after he had specifically requested protection.

In the 1,400-bed facility, which has provided more than $100 million in profit to the GEO Group in its lifetime, some young men have also been forced into drug trafficking by guards, have been assaulted while handcuffed, and were denied critical mental health treatment

One of the young men who was unfortunately housed in this hellhole described conditions there.  "'The officers did nothing to protect kids from beat downs and sexual assaults," he said.  There was little time for education, he said, "because the place was so disorganized, and the officers didn't care about our future.'"  For even more horror stories about the atrocities that have taken place inside this juvenile detention center, check out this article, which does a nice job of documenting the abuse.

But what I liked most of all in the news coming out about this facility is the analysis of the guards by a former private prison employee, who said "It is those staff who should be in prison -- as well as their corporate employers."

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