A Mississippi city fined its residents greater than $1.7 million after which locked them in unconstitutional debtors’ jail after they had been unable to pay their money owed, a Justice Division investigation concluded.
The Division of Justice’s Civil Rights Division launched a Report A collection of alleged constitutional violations in opposition to 10 members of the police division in Lexington, Mississippi, was detailed Thursday. Justice Division investigators discovered that Lexington police violated residents’ rights at each stage: conducting unlawful site visitors stops and searches, unconstitutionally jailing residents and “investigative holds” for unpaid fines, and retaliating in opposition to anybody who criticized them . Added to this are racial profiling and quite a few reviews of police sexual harassment. The report concluded {that a} full lack of management and oversight “created a system by which officers might break the regulation ruthlessly”.
“Lexington has turned its prisons into the type of debtor’s jail that Charles Dickens described in his novels of the 1800s,” Todd Gee, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of Mississippi, mentioned at a information convention saying the report’s findings. ” It will solely occur in Mississippi in 2024.”
Ministry of Justice Open An investigation into Lexington was performed in November 2023, a 12 months after former Lexington Police Chief Resigned As a result of he was secretly recorded utilizing racist slurs and bragging about killing 13 folks. The Justice Division report famous that on the identical day the division launched its investigation, “LPD officers pursued a person charged solely with disrupting commerce and tasered him 9 occasions.”
In 2022, the Lexington Police Division adopted a broad arrest coverage for low-level and non-criminal offenses. On the identical time, it has engaged in aggressive debt assortment practices, jailing residents for failing to pay fines no matter their means to pay.
“Practically one out of each 4 folks on the town has been arrested by LPD over the previous two years, largely for misdemeanors and site visitors violations,” the report mentioned. “That is greater than 10 occasions the per capita arrest price for Mississippi as a complete. A lot of these arrests had been for non-criminal habits corresponding to non-payment of fines and use of profanity.”
Justice Division investigators discovered that after Lexington adopted the arrest coverage, its fantastic income elevated from $30,000 to greater than $240,000 a 12 months, accounting for a few quarter of the police division’s price range. Lexington Municipal Court docket is funded from the police price range, together with the decide’s wage. Throughout the identical interval, the quantity of fines owed by Lexington residents ballooned to greater than $1.7 million.
Lexington police have arrested 20 folks since 2022 beneath a 1963 metropolis ordinance that prohibits cursing or mocking cops, despite the fact that profanity is strictly protected by the First Modification.
These arrests had been typically accompanied by extreme power.
“When making low-level arrests, LPD makes use of ways usually used for critical crimes,” the report mentioned. “For instance, LPD officers broke down a door to arrest a black man for cursing at a public official,” the DOJ report mentioned. In a single case, police had been making an attempt to arrest a person with a tinted windshield. The police adopted the person’s automobile to his house, compelled entry and shocked him for 15 seconds.”
The Justice Division additionally discovered that LPD officers exaggerated or fabricated expenses to gather further fines and illegally jailed folks with out cheap grounds for “investigative detention.” As soon as incarcerated, the division refuses to launch folks except they repay earlier fines, along with paying a $50 “processing price,” no matter whether or not they can afford it. Holmes County, which incorporates Lexington, is among the poorest counties in Mississippi.
Those that complain, criticize and even attempt to doc Lexington police face unlawful retaliation. The report states well known events Final 12 months, LPD officers arrested a civil rights legal professional for filming a site visitors cease.
“I wrote extra tickets to that legal professional that night time; it was as a result of she had diarrhea, y’all,” the arresting officer mentioned the following day, in response to the Justice Division report. “Did not know when to close up.”
In one other case, Lexington police jailed a girl for allegedly failing to pay a fantastic after she posted feedback on Fb crucial of a site visitors jam. “Physique digicam footage reveals that after handcuffing the girl, an LPD supervisor mentioned, ‘Let’s examine if she places that picture on Fb.'”
“The officers used a fist bump,” the report mentioned. “The lady was pregnant on the time and was jailed for 5 days with out having the ability to seem in court docket.”
The Lexington investigation is the newest Justice Division investigation to element widespread civil rights violations by police departments.
In June, the Ministry of Justice Announce findings The Phoenix Police Division performed an identical “sample or observe” investigation. Investigators documented Phoenix police falsifying incident reviews, utilizing pointless power and harmful restraints, illegally detaining homeless folks and destroying their property, delaying medical consideration for injured suspects and assaulting individuals who criticized or filmed them. occasion.
Final 12 months, the Justice Division additionally launched a report on widespread civil rights violations by police minneapolis and Louisville.
Nonetheless, these are main police departments. The Lexington Report is noteworthy due to its small measurement. speed trap town Typically escapes scrutiny. Brookside, Alabama, 2022 Become a national news story when Birmingham Information Studies say town’s mayor and police chief are utilizing exorbitant fines and confiscations to fund their governments.
The Lexington Police Division declined to touch upon the report.
