Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. — The American Civil Liberties Union and others will argue at a federal court hearing Wednesday that the Mississippi Department of Corrections fails to protect prisoners at the privately run Walnut Grove Correctional Facility despite promising three years ago to reduce the facility’s violent atmosphere.
The Clarion-Ledger reports U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves will hear testimony from prisoners, a corrections expert and the corporate vice president of Utah-based Management and Training Corp., which has a contract to run the prison.
The ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center claim the state has violated its 2012 settlement agreement to a federal class-action lawsuit the groups had filed two years prior. That lawsuit alleged that Walnut Grove staff promoted a culture of violence and routinely beat and sexually assaulted inmates.