FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1995 (202) 616-2765

TDD (202) 514-1888

TWO MISSISSIPPI JAILS AGREE TO UPGRADE CONDITIONS

IN RESPONSE TO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROBE

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two Mississippi jails that were found by

the Justice Department to have inadequate medical care,
insufficient staffing, and improper fire safety agreed today to
upgrade their conditions of confinement.
Sunflower County Jail in Indianola and Forrest County Jail
in Hattiesburg were two of 18 Mississippi jails the Justice
Department investigated following a series of prisoner suicides.
The investigations, launched pursuant to the Civil Rights of
Institutionalized Persons Act, revealed that conditions at all of
the jails failed to meet constitutional standards. A separate
criminal investigation into the individual suicides is a pending
matter within the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.
"We must never allow unconstitutional conditions to go
unchallenged in our nation's institutions," said Assistant
Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. "Through the
cooperative efforts of federal and local officials, we have been
able to reach agreements that will ensure better conditions."
Under the agreements, the two jails will develop and
implement new policies and procedures, ensure fire safety,
provide adequate medical care, guarantee safe and sanitary
conditions, and provide adequate inmate security and supervision.
The agreements also require both jails to train their staff to
meet the provisions of the agreement and develop and implement
suicide prevention programs.
Sunflower County, whose jail was deemed unfit for human
habitation, also agreed to construct a new jail facility, which
it recently completed.
The Justice Department examined all conditions at the two
jails in 1993, including supervision, fire safety, training,
staffing and mental and medical care. It then notified local
officials of its findings and began negotiations.
In a separate action, the Justice Department asked a federal
court for permission to intervene in a private case challenging
the conditions at the Simpson County Jail in Mendenhall. The
Justice Department concluded that conditions in the jail, which
was also one of the facilities investigated in 1993, failed to
meet constitutional standards. By intervening in the class-action suit, the Justice Department can help obtain a settlement
to improve conditions at the Simpson County facility.
The Justice Department will monitor the two jails that
entered agreements today to ensure that they are complying with
them and will continue to monitor the 10 other Mississippi jails
which entered agreements last year.
The Sunflower County agreement was filed today in U.S.
District Court in Oxford, and the Forrest County agreement was
filed in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The motion to intervene
in Ranier v. Lloyd Jones, Sheriff, Simpson County, was filed in
U.S. District Court in Jackson.
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