It looks like incoming, tax-cutting Republican Governor Haley Barbour is going to have to give some attention to cleaning up this particular mess (via Atrios):
Feds Allege Youth Camps Abuse CBS News/AP 12/18/03
The Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit Thursday against the state of Mississippi, alleging abuse of juvenile offenders at two state-run facilities. ...
Among the abuses uncovered: suicidal girls were stripped naked and placed in solitary confinement in a dark cell with only a drain for a toilet, boys were forced to run with mattresses strapped to their backs, girls who threw up while running in the heat were forced to eat their vomit, and youths were tied to poles or hog-tied. ...
Of 33 investigations of state-run juvenile facilities, nursing homes and other institutions nationwide, this is the first time the Justice Department felt the need to ask the federal courts to intervene, [the assistant attorney general filing the suit] said.
I'm glad to see John Ashcroft's Justice Department is doing something more useful than covering up nekkid statues.
Having taken part years ago in a program audit of Mississippi's main state mental hospital, I don't find it hard to believe that the abuses alleged could well have taken place. Set up an underfunded agency, offer pay too low to attract enough qualified personnel, neglect the necessary oversight: stuff like this is going to happen.
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