JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge has scheduled a December 2014 trial for a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that says there’s a “school-to-prison pipeline” in east Mississippi that locks up students for minor infractions like flatulence or vulgar language.
The October 2012 lawsuit said the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County have policies allowing students to be detained without probable cause or legal representation in what mainly affects Black and disabled children.
The trial has been scheduled to take place in U.S. District Court in Jackson during a two-week period beginning Dec. 8, 2014. A settlement conference is scheduled for June 25.
The Meridian Public School District was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In May, a federal judge approved a deal between the district and the Justice Department, known as a consent decree. The agreement calls for the district to fully comply with several measures to end discriminatory punishment by the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
The defendants in the lawsuit are the city of Meridian, Lauderdale County, the two Lauderdale County Youth Court judges, the Mississippi Department of Human Services and DHS’s Division of Youth Services.
In court filings, the defendants have denied most of the allegations.
The lawsuit says Meridian police arrested students without determining whether there was probable cause when a school wanted to press charges, and the students were routinely jailed.
