Feds: Mississippi County Runs 'school-to-prison pipeline'

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by Sulie

 

Really? In NY, I skipped school often, came into school "late" often. No truenmt oinkers ever did nothing. I graduated in 2001

When my own children were in High School in Arizona, if they had more than three unexcused absences in a month, the law would be called on the parents, who were subject to arrest for not being in control of their children. I had a son who would walk out the door like he was headed for school, only to turn back around and go home, with the school then calling me at work, wondering where he was.

It got so bad with this child, not going, that I made him drop out of school legally when he was 16 so that I would not have to go to jail.

This stuff is not new!

I will just say this, I'm from Mississippi, South and middle, this is in Meridian almost to Alabama line, nothing surprises me here anymore, all I can do is :shk: and say "Lawd hav mercy."

This state is behind by God only knows how far in the past, need I say more...

This is what I found in the Lauderdale County School District student handbook:

Severe Clause
Any problem considered severe by the administration, including but not limited to fighting, violations of drug-alcohol-tobacco regulations, possession of a weapon on campus, or gross disrespect for a staff member, could warrant application of any of the steps three through six on the school-wide discipline plan and may result in the student’s being referred to law enforcement officials.


Based on the CNN article the OP linked to, apparently the Meridian police department is taking the children that are being referred by the school district directly to juvenile court. The court puts the student on probation, and any subsequent infraction that requires out-of-school suspension results in incarceration. I see no problem here. These are repeat offenders.

As for the allegation that African-Americans are being targeted, Meridian High School is 87% black.

My personal experience tells me that unchecked discipline problems tend to escalate. When I was in high school, we had a situation where a couple of fights that were brushed off as not needing law enforcement resulted in one of the participants showing up with a sawed-off shotgun. Fortunately, an assistant principal was able to talk him down, and held him until police arrived. If police had been involved earlier, they would have informed school officials of the gang element involved and kept the student from coming back with a gun.

I agree that government tends to overstep their authority, but there is the responsibility to protect and serve.

reply to post by Sulie


Wow, that sounds messed up. You made your son drop out, so you wouldn't go to jail? My parents, for all their faults made sure I went to school after I went back home.

reply to post by wshadow1


Sounds like what I was on when I was a teen. My parents took me to family court and put me on a PINs(Person in need of supervision) petition. Problem was they focussed on the wrong thing, they were more worried about my piss test, than they were worried about if I made it to school.

It's not acceptable though - say, for instance, that school has THAT severe a discipline problem.

First off, look at the environment.
Second - Adults have to be in charge and responsible. Period.
Third- you shouldn't MACE kids for talking back.

THERE ARE alternatives to that.
I used to run a adolescent psych unit. Many of the kids had charges, some severe, and behavioral problems? Oh yeah. BUT, we never maced anyone. GEEZ

Wonder what the heck their staffing is like?

Originally posted by hadrianaZ

Wonder what the heck their staffing is like?

Probably adults with a substandard education and who likely suffered abuse as kids themselves....it's a vicious, vicious cycle.

Institutions and corporations only get away with this crap because there are severely warped people who will accept money to put aside their ethics.

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by Sulie

 

Wow, that sounds messed up. You made your son drop out, so you wouldn't go to jail? My parents, for all their faults made sure I went to school after I went back home.

Not just for that reason. He was one of a set of twins. Very small for his age, and very bullied at school, but too afraid to tell me about it.

I understood the reasons why he was pulling the stunts that he did, and so no, I did not pull him out of school for what he did alone. The school would not take any responsibility for the severe bullying he was subjected to, and I really feared for his safety while he was at school. So yes, what my child did, put me in jepardy for his actions, but none of the bullies at the school, or their parents were considered worth being investigated.

Yes, I did make him drop out, but he immediately signed on to a community college for classes that also allowed him to complete a GED at the same time he was getting college credits.

The kid wasn't stupid, or a problem in classes...it was what others did to him, that made him to what he did after I would leave for work in the morning.

He suffered, while the bullies did not.

reply to post by Sulie


Apologies, I can relate to that. I was bullied a lot, from the time I was in 3rd grade, until about 8th grade when I snapped and beat a jock into the hospital. Being tormented for no other reason than my family couldn't afford designer clothes was my deal. I was raised with martial arts, and taught I should only use it for self defense physically. No one seems to equate constant mental abuse to physical abuse. I would have rather gotten beaten regularly to what I got.

reply to post by kosmicjack


Well, DOJ will shut them down, and it might be needed.
They shut a mental hospital here down. They warned them - there really were bad problems there not getting addressed. However, it was a major loss of employment for the area, AND there's no inpatient/evaluation treatment locally that is free for the mentally ill now. It affects the police force too, when they have to drive so far to transport folks - I imagine that this facility is NEEDED or it wouldn't be there in the first place, but, just from our local experience...I hope they get it fixed yesterday.

The only way to get rid of the trash running the government in any state is for the people to raise up and protest the heads of those involved in the violation of constitutional rights.

All the people involved deserve the anger of the tax payers and voters in the state.

Unless people demand the head of the violatiors, nothing will happen and will be business as usual once people forget that even happen.

reply to post by moonzoo7


This is nothing new, unfortunately...Cash for kids in Pennsylvania...

www.jlc.org...

In 2007, a frantic call from an alarmed parent prompted Juvenile Law Center to investigate irregularities in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County juvenile court. We discovered that hundreds of children routinely appeared before Judge Mark Ciavarella without counsel, were quickly adjudicated delinquent (found guilty) for minor offenses and immediately transferred to out-of-home placements. We petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2008 to vacate the juveniles’ adjudications of delinquency and expunge their records. Though the court denied our initial petition, once the United States Attorney alleged that Ciavarella and another Luzerne County judge had accepted nearly $2.6 million in alleged kickbacks from two private for-profit juvenile facilities, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted our request for extraordinary relief. The US Attorney also filed federal criminal charges against both judges.

I believe the investigation is still ongoing and reaching out to other counties with the FBI involved.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
This is what happens when you privatize prisons and make them for-profit. There was the case out of PA where the judge was taking kickbacks for sentencing youths to detention facilities and prisons. It's sick.

The things that are tools for helping to make our society safer, healthier, smarter, etc. should not be privatized. We all have a vested interest in them - things like Schools, Hospitals, Prisons, Governmental Services, etc.

When we privatize those sorts of things we relinquish that interest for the benefit of saving a few bucks and our civil society is degraded. We lose the "common denominator" factor that helps keep society organized and strong. It just becomes a free-for-all devoid of ethics in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Yeah I've seen a few shows on this subject, Iknow its easier said than done fighting the system but after getting released I'm surprised there isn't more people protesting or creating something to get more people to see whats going on. I first heard about this type of thing around 4 years ago. But I'm guessing private prisons go back a bit longer than that.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Well my blood pressure just hit the roof, and what I don't understand is how the parents stayed quiet and how this wasn't a national outrage and why, they didn't inform the unlawful judges how they were going to be seeing some jail time and DEMANDING THEIR KIDS BACK, and chewing up the line upwards, over everyone's head to all the politiicians, and never shutting up, never sitting down, telling them, this unlawfulness is going to end with my kid out, and millions in compensation, the right way or I take a bulldozer to your jail house, I aint going home home without the kid AND without those who did this behind freaking bars!!!!!! And who am I, well your FREAKING BOSS!!! You either work for me or you hit the jail house.

edit on 10-8-2012 by Unity_99 because: (no reason given)

You are obviously not no Mississippi .........African American.....They just shoot first down there, and discuss why they shot you later......if at all.............

reply to post by moonzoo7


THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!


I HATE THE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS TO OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR SCHOOLS!


every single day i went to school i HATED IT. it always felt like jail, now it is.

reply to post by hadriana

It's not acceptable though - say, for instance, that school has THAT severe a discipline problem.

If a region has that severe of a discipline problem you can always give local hospitals needles laced with environmentally hardened Ebola Zaire. It's a slate-wiper with communicability limited largely to close family groups. Transmission to surrounding areas is unlikely and containable.

Problem eliminated.

First off, look at the environment.

Hills limit the effectiveness of burst ordnance like nuclear and fuel-air munitions. Terrain very well suited to guerrilla tactics and local population has an arms rate over the national average of 50%. Incendiary munitions would be seasonally effective. Highways provide suitable but predictable access for armor while the terrain poses difficulties for mechanized forces. Environment suited to incubation and communication of many bacterial and viral strains.

Not exactly the analysis you were looking for - but old habits die hard for me.

Second - Adults have to be in charge and responsible. Period.

And they obviously aren't. What can you do when you are dealing with entire communities who neglect their children and just don't care?

Third- you shouldn't MACE kids for talking back.

Personally I'd open up the cell and tell them that they could leave if they managed to kick my ass - no batons, mace, gear, etc.

After crushing them and kicking them back into their cell - they would have then learned that they are not half the bad ass they think they are, and should reconsider that little fantasy in their head that they can spout off at the mouth without consequences.

Some will learn quickly - others will need to have their collar broken a couple times before they get a clue. Either way - you can't just talk your way through to kids that age that are that deep into the "I'm a gangster badass" fantasy. Show them they are more breakable than they thought - and you break down that communication barrier.

Of course - not all have to be beaten in such a literal sense. Taking them out on a 20K run through the Ozarks will clearly illustrate who is really in a position of power.

Personally, I've never liked mace. Sure - it's a nice alternative for the police officer who doesn't want to have to kill someone in self defense - but part of our training required us to be OCed, and I'd rather not do that to someone. If I carried it and had to use it - I would... but I just find that too many people like to jump straight to intermediate weapons to bypass hard controls (though under many circumstances the hard controls pose an unnecessary risk to both parties involved - including those of joint dislocation and compromise of the officer/soldier - which may provide the unruly individual with a firearm).

THERE ARE alternatives to that.
I used to run a adolescent psych unit. Many of the kids had charges, some severe, and behavioral problems? Oh yeah. BUT, we never maced anyone. GEEZ

Few schools are equipped to handle the types of behavior I've seen developing in some areas. You have student/teacher ratios of 20+:1 and one school nurse with an assistant for a school servicing over a thousand students. You have one counselor per class of around 300 (at graduation).

With behavioral cases like those mentioned on the rise (I'd estimate as high as 10% in some regions) - you're looking at a completely overwhelming scenario that school administrators will be hard pressed to handle. Even presuming the have the administrative skills and the education to put in place a plan to address the problem - it's unlikely they will get support from the school board and even less likely they can get funding from the district for it (if behavior problems are that bad there is likely a high incidence of poverty and a high incidence of don't-give-a-damned in the general population).

The region is effectively stuck in an unrecoverable cycle.

reply to post by moonzoo7


They're charging them...so they're bad judges?

bwah?

reply to post by moonzoo7


This story is very personal to me. I started a thread about it a couple
Months ago but a mod removed it for drug reference.

Frankly, most white people have no idea how crooked our criminal justice system has become because the vast majority have not experienced it. Most people assume that if somebody ends up in jail, they must belong there because a "fair and impartial" judge found the accused guilty and poor people are given a competant public defender.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Many years ago I was busted in a big city. In the courtroom I stood out in two ways. I was the only white accused and I was the only defendant with a $5k/day lawyer. I was stunned at the parade of guilty pleas as if there was no point of even trying.

This year I got to spend a day in lock up for forgetting about traffic court and having a bench warrant issued. I turned myself in and got an insiders look at the inhumanity. It is absolutely deplorable how people are treated worse than stray animals at the SPCA shelter and the matter of fact way they accept it.

I know that the private prisons have given rise to this system. The most agregious part of the whole racket is that once you are part of the system, it's virtually guaranteed you will never get out. Between impossible rules for probation, drug testing and other requirements, kids with traffic tickets end up as penetentiary inmates.

reply to post by moonzoo7


I live in MS, about 2 hours from Meridian. To be honest, this is the first I have heard of this issue (although I don't watch much Main$tream Media any more). I get my news from the local paper and ATS. Btw, this my first post! I know some people from the Meridian area; I will try to get some info from them...

By the end of the eight hour nightmare, a rage had built up in me that became so apparent that, though I did not say a word, there was suddenly an immediacy to get me processed and released. I can see how hatred of cops is a natural consesequence.