United States v. Hinds Cnty.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. HINDS COUNTY, ET AL. Defendants.

No. 3:16-CV-489-CWR-RHWR

United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi

April 13, 2022

Before CARLTON W. REEVES, District Judge.

ORDER AMENDING CONSENT DECREE

Carlton W. Reeves United States District Judge

When this case started in 2016, it held some promise for improving the basic conditions of confinement at Hinds County's Raymond Detention Center (RDC). Conditions then were miserable; violence was endemic. A United States Department of Justice investigation the prior year found that the facility had experienced “at least three major riots two alleged homicides, and numerous assaults on prisoners and staff members.” Docket No. 3-3 at 2.

In the intervening six years, the County has made a few changes to attempt to bring the facility up to minimum constitutional standards. It fixed some door locks. It has approved (but not implemented) a 5% raise for correctional officers. It says it is working on cameras and other problems, like trash dumpster cells.

The underlying fundamentals, though, are unchanged. Staffing levels, perhaps the most critical and consistent problem over the years, are now at an all-time low. Violence remains endemic: the facility is averaging 20 assaults a month, while it experienced an unprecedented seven in-custody deaths in 2021. And in January 2022-the same month the County said the Consent Decree should be terminated-mental health staff discovered two inmates, covered in feces and sores, who had suffered “considerable weight loss” since their last well-being check. PX-106 at 5. The problem was caused by staff ceding control of some living units to gangs who mistreated vulnerable detainees by denying them food and showers.

There will be consequences for the County's inaction. This Order, however, is focused solely on the County's motion to terminate or modify the Consent Decree under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA).

After a lengthy evidentiary hearing and a comprehensive review of the constitutional minimums, the Court finds that ongoing constitutional violations require a limited number of provisions of the Consent Decree to remain in place. At the same time, the County's alternative request-for the Consent Decree to be dramatically scaled back-is also due to be granted.

What follows sets out the provisions of the Consent Decree that shall remain, those that shall be deleted, and the reasons for those decisions.

I. Factual and Procedural History

A. The Political Landscape

RDC opened in 1994 under Sheriff Malcolm McMillin. He had been elected in 1991, replacing J.D. McAdory, who had served as Sheriff since 1972. Leah Rupp, In the Limelight Again, Clarion-Ledger (Nov. 18, 2007). McMillin, like McAdory, would remain in office for 20 years. Id.

The 2011 election saw the beginning of a series of one-term Sheriffs. That year, Tyrone Lewis unseated McMillin. Former Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin dies, WJTV (Dec. 22, 2016).^[1] Four years later, the voters replaced Lewis with Victor Mason. Jimmie E. Gates, Hinds to settle feds' OT case, ClarionLedger (Dec. 28, 2016). In 2019 the voters rejected Mason after only one term, this time in favor of Lee Vance. Jimmie E. Gates, Lee Vance defeats incumbent Hinds Sheriff Victor Mason in Democratic runoff, Clarion-Ledger (Aug. 27, 2019). Sadly, Vance did not complete his term. He died on August 3, 2021. Therese Apel, Sheriff Lee Vance Passes Away After A Medical Emergency At Home, Darkhorse Press (Aug. 4, 2021).

The Hinds County Board of Supervisors appointed Marshand Crisler to be Interim Sheriff. Marshand Crisler named interim Hinds County Sheriff, Jackson Advocate (Aug. 16, 2021). A special election was then held on November 2. Thirteen candidates offered themselves to the voters. Brendan Hall, Meet the Hinds County Sheriff candidates before casting your vote on Nov. 2, WLBT (Oct. 30, 2021). When no candidate drew a majority of voters' support, a runoff was necessary between the top two candidates: Crisler and Tyree Jones, who was part of Vance's command staff.

The runoff election was held on November 23. Tyree Jones won. He was sworn into office on December 3, 2021 and presently serves as Hinds County Sheriff.

Like the Sheriff's Office, in the 27 years that RDC has existed, there has been turnover in the Board of Supervisors and the Board's top staff position. None of the current members of the Board were Supervisors when RDC opened. Only two current board members, Robert Graham and Bobby “Bobcat” McGowan, were Supervisors in 2014, when the U.S. Department of Justice notified Hinds County that it was “commencing an investigation into conditions of confinement at the Hinds County Detention Center.” Docket No. 3-1. Graham and McGowan were also the only two sitting Supervisors in office when this action was filed on June 23, 2016.

B. The Conditions of Confinement

“There is a long tradition of professional excoriation of jail conditions.” Margo Schlanger, Inmate Litigation, 116 Harv. L. Rev. 1555, 1686 n.434 (2003). Experts have called jails “the worst blight in American corrections.” Id. (citation omitted). They are “more dangerous” and “more chaotic” than prisons, with less regular routines, more idle time, and detainees who are more likely to be experiencing a crisis. Id. at 1686-87.

The Supreme Court summed up jails as “generally deplorable” institutions that can have a “destructive effect on human character.” Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 520 (1972). “The time spent in jail is simply dead time.” Id. at 532-33.

RDC in particular has been troubled since it opened. As one writer explained, since its inception, “the jail designed to improve conditions for detainees has faced a myriad of problems: structural deficiencies, chronic understaffing and poor management. But fixing those problems ha[s] been elusive under whatever sheriff and Hinds County Board of Supervisors are in elected office at a given time.” Kayode Crown, One Jail's Tale: Hinds County Detention Center At Risk Of Federal Takeover, Miss. Free Press (Oct. 15, 2021).

Captain Diane Riley testified shortly after RDC's opening that “the new jail's doors were inadequate to provide security.” Dean v. Thomas, 933 F.Supp. 600, 608 (S.D.Miss. 1996). That is, the cell doors failed to lock. Nearly three decades later, the cell doors still fail to lock. See Docket No. 94 at 4 [hereinafter Fourteenth Monitoring Report]; see also Ruth Ingram, Year after riot, cell doors at Hinds County jail still don't lock, ClarionLedger (July 23, 2013); Ruth Ingram, Officials: ‘Antsy' juvenile inmates flood area at Hinds jail in Raymond, Clarion-Ledger (July 19, 2013) (“We have doors with no locks, ” the Sheriff's spokesman candidly admitted.); Docket No. 31 at 20 (“the Jail continues to lack even the most basic security and safety features, such as lockable cell doors ”); Docket No. 60 at 4 (“At RDC, doors and locks are broken. Prisoners can break out of their cells, break out of their housing units and even enter a jail control room.”).^[2]

A significant riot in 2012 brought the facility's problems to the forefront. “[P]risoners destroyed fixtures and walls, sprayed water hoses and fire extinguishers, and left ceilings in shambles, ” the State's newspaper of record reported. Ruth Ingram, Jail getting repairs; much more needed, Clarion-Ledger (Nov. 7, 2012). “It's no secret that the door locks need to be replaced, ” Chief Deputy Chris Picou added. “I don't know that the jail has ever been up to industry standards.” Id.

A series of escapes in 2012 and 2013 shed additional light upon the conditions at the jail. See Ruth Ingram, Escape draws attention to jail, policies, Clarion-Ledger (Apr. 22, 2013) (“Escapes this year and last have been blamed on faulty locks and security for jail and cell doors. The county last year ordered emergency repairs in April on doors that had been problematic and a security risk since the facility opened in 1994.”). Sheriff Lewis, who had commissioned a 500-page report on the previous administration, blamed the escapes on “malfunctioning doors and conditions at the aging facility.” Monique Valeris, Lewis says he's not pointing blame at McMillin, WAPT (Aug. 8, 2012).

In 2013, Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green convened a special grand jury to investigate conditions at RDC. The reporting this time centered on safety concerns:

On Sunday, a SWAT team stormed the facility after a dozen inmates broke out of their cells, in part because of faulty locks. Last week, a group of juveniles flooded a portion of the jail by turning on a fire hydrant. Reports also surfaced that several inmates were stabbed and a number of deputies and jailers sustained minor injuries. In June, one inmate died and another was hurt in a string of violent episodes that also left three deputies with injuries.

Emily Le Coz, Grand jury probes Hinds jail issues, ClarionLedger (July 26, 2013). The grand jury concluded that RDC was “in a deplorable condition and inadequately staffed.” Docket No. 3-4 at 5.

In 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division investigated conditions at RDC and the two other facilities that comprise Hinds County's jail system: the Work Center and the downtown jail. Docket No. 3-1. It concluded that the County was violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments by, among other things described in its 29-page report, failing to provide “minimum levels of protection from violence, ” failing to have “sufficient numbers of trained staff, ” and incarcerating persons “beyond their court-ordered release dates.” Docket No. 3-3 at 2-3. The problems had resulted in “at least three major riots, two alleged homicides, and numerous assaults on prisoners and staff members.”...