Case: DOJ Investigation of Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility

On October 25, 2010, the Special Litigation Section of the Department of Justice’s (U.S. DOJ) Civil Rights Division announced that it was commencing an investigation into the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (“Walnut Grove”) in Mississippi. Walnut Grove was a 1,500 bed prison that housed children and men aged 13 to 22 in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). According to the U.S. DOJ report, the population of Walnut Grove more than tripled between 2001 and 2010.

The State contracted Cornell Companies to run Walnut Grove as a facility for juvenile offenders from 2003 to 2010; in 2010, the GEO Group acquired Cornell Companies. The GEO Group, Inc. is a publicly traded company that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. In 2010, the GEO Group reportedly operated more than forty facilities in the United States. 

Following significant publicity surrounding the U.S. DOJ investigation, the State conducted an internal review of the facility. The State’s parallel investigation was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. DOJ. The State released a report consistent with the findings of the U.S. DOJ investigation in 2011. Between January and October 2010, during the course of the State’s investigation, 11 officers found to have engaged in inappropriate relationships with youth were terminated.

On March 20, 2012, the U.S. DOJ formally informed the governor of Mississippi of the findings of the investigation and publicly released the report. In the course of the investigation, the U.S. DOJ interviewed administrators, staff, and 300-400 youth. The U.S. DOJ found an unconstitutional pattern or practice of deliberate indifference to the health and well-being of the youth at Walnut Grove on the part of both the staff at the facility and the state. The six main findings of the report were as follows:

1. Deliberate indifference to staff sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior with youth, and that the misconduct was among the worst the DOJ had seen in the country. In addition, contrary to their legal duties, staff frequently failed to report allegations of staff sexual abuse to supervisors.
2. A pattern or practice of using excessive force against youth, including pepper spray, and a failure to adequately report and investigate uses of force
3. Deliberate indifference to the gang affiliations of correctional staff.
4. Deliberate indifference to the risk of harm posed to youth by fellow youth, and evidence of failure to take reasonable steps to protect youth from sexual and physical assault.
5. Deliberate indifference to the risk of suicide and mental health needs of the youth at the facility, rooted in a lack of sufficient mental health professionals appropriately trained to help suicidal youth.
6. Deliberate indifference to the medical needs of youth at the facility.  

The report also noted that GEO Group failed to correct or attempt to correct problems at the facility during the investigation. In the report, the U.S. DOJ concluded that it wanted to work cooperatively with the State to address the numerous deficiencies and implement remedial measures. 

On November 16, 2010, plaintiffs represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU Prison Project filed a federal class-action suit against GEO and MDOC (see: DePriest ex rel. C.B. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority). The contents of the claim mirrored the pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct found by the U.S. DOJ. Following extensive testimony, the case was settled and a federal court monitor was appointed on March 26, 2012, six days after the U.S. DOJ’s report was released. Conditions of the settlement included: transferring youthful offenders to locations that conformed to juvenile standards; establishing a state-run youthful offender unit at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility; and ending all contracts with GEO Group. As a result of the investigation and settlement, the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility ceased housing youth offenders and became the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility (WGCF). 

On April 20, 2012, Mississippi announced that it would end its contracts with the GEO Group per the requirements of the settlement agreement. MDOC Commission Chris Epps solicited a combined bid for three prisons in the state for which contracts were being offered. The state signed a new 10-year contract with another private prison company, the Management & Training Corporation (MTC). An attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented plaintiffs in the class action suit, publicly objected to the state awarding a contract to MTC. MTC took over management of Walnut Grove on July 2, 2012. Walnut Grove remained under court oversight with a monitor providing regular reports on conditions, which remained unacceptable. After two major riots at the facility in 2012, the judge presiding over the consent decree extended federal oversight of the prison because of continuing constitutional violations. 

In 2014, the FBI commenced a corruption investigation into Walnut Grove and other MDOC private prisons titled Operation Mississippi Hustle. Commissioner Epps resigned in November 2014 and later pled guilty to charges related to the FBI investigation and was estimated to have received over $1 million dollars in bribes related to contracts he steered towards certain private prison management companies.

The WGCF closed in 2016 but has since reopened.