The Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) have won access to youths held at the abusive Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center in Jackson, Miss. A federal judge ruled Monday that facility officials can no longer block lawyers and advocates from meeting with detained children and teens.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is expanding its legal department, including the addition of three experienced attorneys and the appointment of a director of advocacy for its Florida office.
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. The lawsuit was filed after Jackson Public Schools refused to respond to a demand letter requesting that the school district end these practices.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) have filed an emergency motion with a federal court to stop officials at a Jackson, Miss., juvenile detention center from blocking attorneys and advocates from meeting with youths held at the abusive facility.
Children held at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center in Jackson, Miss., were denied mental health services and subjected to verbal abuse and threats of physical harm by staff members. The Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi filed a class action lawsuit in June 2011 after numerous attempts to resolve the issues with county officials failed. A settlement agreement to protect youth at the facility was approved in March 2012.
The public school system of Mobile County, Ala., violated the constitutional rights of students by suspending them for months at a time over minor misbehavior without giving parents and guardians an opportunity to defend them. The SPLC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of six students suspended for apparent minor misbehavior such as un-tucked shirts, tardiness or failing to carry a school ID.
The Mobile County (Ala.) Public School System has violated the constitutional rights of students by suspending them for months at a time over minor misbehavior without giving parents and guardians an opportunity to defend them, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the SPLC.
Latino students in Durham, N.C., public schools were subjected to pervasive discrimination throughout the school district. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. The SPLC eventually reached an agreement with the Durham Public Schools system to end discriminatory practices that created this hostile environment for Latino students.
A federal judge today denied the Louisiana Department of Education's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the SPLC on behalf of thousands of New Orleans students with special needs.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights Mississippi filed a lawsuit against Forrest County, Miss., to force the county to comply with federal law and provide the children held at the county’s juvenile detention center with access to lawyers and civil rights advocates following reports of abusive conditions at the facility.
