JACKSON, Miss. — A federal appeals court has authorized a federal receiver to take control of a Mississippi jail, following findings by a judge indicating severe constitutional violations and a troubling series of assaults and fatalities at the facility.
A panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision made by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves in 2022, which appointed a public safety consultant to oversee operations at the Raymond Detention Center located in Hinds County. The judges confirmed that “current and ongoing” constitutional violations persist at this establishment, situated just outside of Jackson.
Hinds County has sought to block this takeover, contending that a federally appointed consultant would operate with no accountability to the county’s residents or financial contributors. Nevertheless, the appellate judges instructed Judge Reeves to revisit the extent of the consultant’s authority, specifically calling for the removal of the ability to regulate the jail’s budget. They noted that the authority granted was excessively extensive, encompassing decisions about the jail’s annual financial planning, which includes staff salaries, health services, and facility upgrades.
The judges expressed concern that allowing the consultant to handle these financial matters could prevent adherence to the budgetary limitations faced by the Hinds County Board of Supervisors as they manage the facility.
After highlighting the jail’s dire conditions—such as inadequate staffing and poor oversight—Judge Reeves placed the facility under receivership in July 2022, following the deaths of seven inmates in 2021. According to legal analysts, instances of federal receiverships or similar control changes in correctional facilities have occurred only about eight times across the United States.
In October 2022, Judge Reeves appointed Wendell M. France Sr., a seasoned public safety consultant and former correctional administrator with 27 years of experience in the Baltimore Police Department, to help rectify the jail’s conditions. France was set to commence operational management of the facility on January 1, 2023.
When implementing the receivership, Judge Reeves raised alarms regarding serious safety issues, such as inoperative cell doors and poorly lit areas that rendered life unbearable for those incarcerated, as well as hampering guards’ ability to monitor detainees. Furthermore, he noted that guards occasionally neglected their duties, opting to sleep rather than supervise the inmates through the control room cameras.
Sheriff Tyree Jones of Hinds County has asserted that local officials are dedicated to resolving the jail’s ongoing issues, many of which are attributed to a shortage of staff. In an update from October 2023, Jones revealed that one of the most problematic areas of the jail had been shuttered and that 200 inmates had been relocated to a privately operated detention facility nearly 150 miles away in Tallahatchie County.