Leflore County has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle federal complaints over conditions at the Leflore County Juvenile Detention Center.
The consent decree, approved unanimously Monday by the county Board of Supervisors, will resolve federal allegations, based on a 2009 visit by federal authorities to the site, that conditions at the facility violated the constitutional rights of youths detained there.
The consent decree will cover required policies, procedures and staff training at the facility, giving officials at the Department of Justice the authority to monitor compliance with the guidelines spelled out in the agreement.
Leflore County Youth Court Judge Kevin Adams, who has overseen the detention center since he was first appointed to the bench in April 2008, said that earlier drafts of a possible consent decree with the Department of Justice included extremely expensive requirements to follow model practices that went far beyond the legal requirements for the facility.
Adams, speaking with the Board of Supervisors Monday, said the currently agreement was likely the best deal the county could get without fighting the government in court.
“If we’re going to be under Department of Justice supervision, I believe this (settlement) reflects what we are already doing and the direction we should be going at the Juvenile Detention Center,” Adams said.
In a 2011 public letter of findings, then-Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez wrote that the Department of Justice’s 2009 visit to the site had “revealed systemic, egregious and dangerous abuses perpetuated by a lack of accountability and controls.”
Adams has disputed some of the allegations contained in the report and said that the facility made a number of significant changes independent of the federal investigation between the 2009 site visit and the release of the federal report.
The facility, located across Market Street from the Leflore County Courthouse, is one of 15 juvenile detention centers in the state and houses youths from a number of counties.
The 2011 report identified problems at the facility ranging from guards regularly shackling juveniles to metal beds, arbitrary use of punishment, a lack of mental health services for suicidal youths and inadequate educational offerings at the facility, especially for juveniles with learning disabilities.
At the time of the report’s release, Adams told the Commonwealth that the findings provided “a fairly decent snapshot” of conditions in the facility in November 2009 but that significant changes — including updated grievance and complaint procedures, significant staffing changes and alterations to the facility’s discipline policy — rendered many of its findings outdated.
On Monday, Adams said litigating with the Department of Justice over requirements in the consent decree would’ve been difficult, especially since changes and improvements at the facility since the 2009 visit wouldn’t be considered in court.
“The question would be, ‘Were there problems in 2009?’” Adams said. “We would not be able to litigate over where we are now.”
A December draft of the consent decree agreement, examined by the Commonwealth, would require the county to bring policies and procedures at the facility into compliance with federal guidelines and guarantee that staff members receive regular training.
The agreement would also limit the use of isolation as a form of punishment in the facility and ensure access to medical and mental health services for juveniles detained in the facility.
Adams said Monday that the final agreement — which was not viewed by the Commonwealth — was largely the same as the earlier draft but that sections pertaining to educational requirements at the facility had been mostly removed.
The educational offerings at the facility — which were criticized in the 2011 federal report and were the focus of a 2013 Department of Justice visit to the detention center — fall outside the county’s control, since officials at the facility contract with the Leflore County School District to provide educational services, Adams said Monday.
Adams said federal officials could revisit educational requirements if the Leflore County School District, which has been under state control since a 2013 takeover, is returned to local control.
“While the Department of Justice has not conceded that point, they have agreed to leave it off the table for now,” Adams said.
Should compliance with the federal requirements prove too costly or “onerous,” Adams said, the consent decree does not prevent Leflore County from simply shuttering the facility and contracting with another county to house juveniles.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
