A.M., et al. v. Jackson Public Schools Board of Trustees, et al.

Students at Jackson Public School District’s Capital City Alternative School have regularly been disciplined for minor infractions, such as not wearing a belt or for wearing mismatched shoelaces, by being shackled for hours at a time to a fixed object.

These students are left unsupervised and are denied access to classroom instruction. The specific allegations in the complaint include:

• A 15-year-old female student was handcuffed to a railing for several hours after she was accused of greeting her friend too loudly in the school hallway.

• Another student was shackled to a railing for an entire school day because the student did not wear a belt. The student was even forced to eat lunch while handcuffed.

• One student spent an entire school day handcuffed and shackled to a railing because he wore shoes that schools officials deemed to be the wrong color.

The lawsuit was filed after Jackson Public Schools refused to respond to a demand letter requesting that the school district end these practices.