Federal receiver to take control of Hinds County jail Oct. 1

More than three years after a federal judge ordered receivership to manage the Hinds County Detention Center and the county responded with a drawn-out legal pushpack, the receiver will finally take control of the jail next month. 

U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves ordered a receiver in July 2022 over conditions that led to seven deaths the year before. He appointed Wendell France Jr., a public safety consultant who worked as an assistant jail warden in Maryland. 

France will take “operational control” Oct. 1 to fix ongoing unconstitutional conditions like understaffing and the state of facilities at the Raymond jail. He will remain in place no longer than necessary and transition operations and powers back to the county. 

Reeves issued the order after the most recent court monitor report compiled from visits to the jail and review of documents. There have been significant changes made since 2022, but ongoing problems remain, the monitors found. 

They gave county officials credit for permanently closing A Pod, a dangerous housing unit, and moving about 200 detainees to the privately operated Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in the Delta. Meanwhile, the remaining housing areas have deteriorated, the report states. 

Monitors identified staffing as the biggest problem and an impediment to proper supervision for detainees. Nearly 250 people are needed to operate the housing units, but less than a third of the positions are filled, the report notes. 

As justification for his order, Reeves wrote “‘the severity and immediacy of the current and ongoing constitutional violations at [the Raymond Detention Center], the failure of less extreme measures to ensure inmate safety, the need for compliance with the court’s orders, and the lack of leadership at RDC necessary to ensure compliance.’”

Sheriff Tyree Jones said his office has been working closely with the receiver for the last several months and will continue to work with France when he takes operational control. 

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Thursday. 

France previously started work at the jail in November 2023 and was preparing to take operational control at the beginning of the next year, but he had to stop after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in favor of the county. 

The county has opposed receivership, arguing that it has made improvements and improved jail conditions. 

Hinds County officials appealed the receivership, which was dismissed last year. While a panel of the 5th Circuit agreed with Reeves’ ability to appoint a receiver, it ordered the judge reevaluate the scope of the receivership, notably authority over budget and related financial matters. 

Reeves has issued a new injunction and redefined the scope of the receivership in his June order. 

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the county alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with changes to address jail conditions. 

There was back and forth over the years about whether the county was complying with the decree. In 2021, seven detainees died in the prison, which prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt twice and hold hearings about whether to order receivership. 

In court and filings, county attorneys have argued that leaders were working with the consent decree and spending millions of dollars to repair the jail. There were also plans to build a new facility, which is currently under construction in Jackson.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Read original article by clicking here.