A Justice Department report states that Hinds County Sheriff Victor Mason is spending money budgeted for the Hinds County detention centers on other departments even though the Raymond detention center is severely short-staffed. The report was submitted to U.S. District Court Judge John Gargiulo in August as part of a consent decree over the operation of the three Hinds County detention centers between the Justice Department and Hinds County.
The report noted some improvements in the operation of the detention centers but still said Hinds County did not comply with the decree in most categories. The report is posted below and was drafted after the monitor inspected the detention centers in June. The monitor inspected the detention centers in February and submitted a report in May to the court. The monitor eviscerated the Sheriff at a July hearing for the Raymond Detention Center's deplorable conditions, inability to
protect inmates from violence, and holding inmates past their release
dates. The monitor painted a picture of a jail that is woefully understaffed while inmates all too often control parts of the jail. The latest report stated that the Hinds County Sheriff's Department was non-compliant in 71 of 92 areas, an improvement from 85 of 92 areas in May. This quote says it all:
The turnover rate for Detention was 43% in 2016—the WC was 23.5%, the JDC was 31.5% and the RDC was 58.8%. Consequently, almost every unit at the RDC is not staffed leaving the inmates in charge of 90% of the facility. (p.17)
The monitor commended the Sheriff for increasing the pay for detention officers but said the lack of qualified applicants is "of crisis proportions at this time." The report stated:
As was previously noted, baseline data regarding authorized positions within the Jail System is woefully lacking. During the June site visit an updated list of authorized positions for the Detention Services Division was provided, but of the 275 positions identified, 24 actually work in other divisions of the Sheriff’s Office. That leaves 251 positions of which more than 50 are vacant. The actual availability of another 50 positions is not entirely certain because the positions appear to be mischaracterized by title or job duties. The creation of an accurate workforce database must be accomplished before meaningful progress can be made toward rectifying the staff shortage problem. (p.3)Unfortunately for the Sheriff and Hinds County, the monitor recommends increasing the staffing at the detention centers to 433 positions - an increase of 182 positions. Hinds County's attorneys told the court at the July hearing that it was almost impossible for the county to afford such an increase in employees.
The monitor sharply criticized the Sheriff for his failure to adequately staff the detention centers:
No progress has been made with regard to the critical issue of hiring and retaining enough officers to ensure that the facilities are properly staffed.The monitor also states that ten percent of the detention center employees have not received the proper pre-service training before working in the detention centers.
However, the report does state that some improvements have taken place. Prisoners are no longer held for more than eight hours in the booking cells. Well-being checks are made more frequently although not as often as required by the consent decree. Booking officers who can classify new prisoners according to the alleged offense now work seven days a week instead of taking the weekends off.
The improvements are outweighed by the many of the same problems that were mentioned in the May report. The detention centers still suffer from a lack of medical personnel. Prisoners are "routinely" held past their release dates. Juvenile facilities are still woefully lacking. Outdoor recreation is not provided to the inmates. Then there is the incarceration of prisoners who can't pay fines:
People continue to be held on invalid orders requiring full payment of fines and fees before release and showing no evidence of a determination of willfulness. The County has discontinued interpreting all fines and fees orders as requiring incarceration until payment in full but continues to hold people when the court order explicitly states to detain until payment in full despite no indication of a finding of willfulness.Then there is the matter of the policies and procedures manual. The Sheriff was supposed to produce the manual in January but did not do so until April. However, the monitor said the manual is incomplete and is being revised.
The monitor repeatedly states that it is impossible to determine compliance on matters such as use of force because there is no final manual for all three facilities although each one had its own in the past. Numerous sections of the report stated that it was impossible to determine if the HCSD was in compliance since no such manual existed.
There are also not enough shakedowns:
As indicated in this Settlement Agreement requirement, shakedowns should be conducted by Detention Officers not outside law enforcement personnel. Shakedowns are not conducted as frequently as they should be. More frequent shakedowns would limit the massive accumulation of contraband and the high number of security breaches. This problem was evidenced on June 7, 2017, when approximately 116 Deputies and Mississippi Department of Corrections officers conducted a major sweep of the RDC and the WC at 0110 hours. Among other things they recovered 43 cellphones, 39 cellphone chargers, 25 “shanks”, a digital scale, miscellaneous tobacco products including marijuana, two steak knives and 38 DVD/CD’s. That impressive collection of contraband is reflective of the breakdown in control of the Jail System, particularly the RDC, which is directly attributable to the fact that officers are not assigned to the housing units due to a critical lack of personnel.
The HCSD also does not operate a gang problem at the detention centers, something the Justice Department considers to be essential. The staff does not conduct an NCIC check on inmates upon release. The booking department suffered from a shortage of employees as well.
Judge Gargiulo will hold a status hearing today at 2:00 PM to discuss the progress made under the consent decree.
12 comments:
Wow...there is a lot of stuff lacking with victor Mason's sheriff's office...what can we learn from all of this? If you don't want things run like this, then don't elect a tyrone lewis or a victor mason. They don't have the skill to run the place or the will to learn the skill. They are just empty suits pimping the public for a paycheck. If you really had the public's safety and well being in mind as you say you do victor, you would resign and let someone else fix what your are not smart enough to fix.
Spoooooooooner
I second the challenge made by 10:57. Victor if you truly want what is best for the citizens of Hinds county and the employees of the Sheriff's Department then step aside. You had your shot and 2 years later the department is in even worse shape. NO EXCUSES! Remember that one? What's it going to be? Are you man enough to except or will you look out for your own best interest?
Where are you at Victor? We the public demand you account for your time and our money, and we demand that you do it in public in person with no excuses, or step aside son.
Victor you begged for the job, and sold your soul to the devil to get it. You either answer up, or a group of concerned citizens will hound you at every public appearance you make at church, dinner or a parade and we will ask you the tough specific questions in public and we will demand very specific and thorough answers in public. We have not even started to crucify you yet, keep this in mind as you contemplate the challenge/offers made above.
Just do the right thing and resign. You would be considered more of a man to pony up and admit that you screwed the pooch than to stay your painful course.
Where are you at Victor? We the public demand you account for your time and our money, and we demand that you do it in public in person with no excuses, or step aside son.
Victor you begged for the job, and sold your soul to the devil to get it. You either answer up, or a group of concerned citizens will hound you at every public appearance you make at church, dinner or a parade and we will ask you the tough specific questions in public and we will demand very specific and thorough answers in public. We have not even started to crucify you yet, keep this in mind as you contemplate the challenge/offers made above.
Just do the right thing and resign. You would be considered more of a man to pony up and admit that you screwed the pooch than to stay your painful course.
Gov. Phil Bryant signs bill to give Mississippi sheriff's pay raises on July 1
The Associated Press By The Associated Press
on March 24, 2014 at 11:08 AM, updated March 24, 2014 at 2:01 PM
Each sheriff is paid based on how many people live in the county, and the law collapses eight current population-based pay brackets into five new ones.
The sheriffs' pay scale under the new law:
-- $75,000 in any county with fewer than 15,000 residents.
-- $80,000 in any county with a population of 15,000 to 34,000.
-- $85,000 in any county with a population of 34,000 to 45,000.
-- $90,000 in any county with a population of 45,000 to 100,000.
-- $99,000 in any county with a population of more than 100,000.
How many of y'all would resign or walk away from a $99,000/yr job? Yea that's what I thought
No but you would get to endure $500,000/yr of humiliation everywhere you went. If you were dead set on taking the money then be prepared to reap the whirlwind. I can assure you with the "peace of mind factor" in play, an entry level job would net more in the end. There will be nothing but relentless garbage that erupts from this man's life.
As always, Victor has proven he's in way over his head.
We're all just waiting for the judge to take the jail away, or close half of it until it's staffed. Spooners comimg people, wether you like it or not, he'll be your next Sheriff.
Jail gone, His Certified deputies quiting or retiring, his staff hates him and three sexual lawsuits pending next year..
Spoooooooooner!!!
News flash...The Sheriff's office only gets the money that the board of supervisors gives them. Just in case you haven't been paying attention for the last 30 years the Hinds County BOS is, to say the least, squandering tax dollars in epic style. This has been a problem for decades. It's new to many because of the availability of information on the web. Please try to keep up..
I heard the Hinds County BOS stated the increased funds needed to fully staff the detention centers and the department overall as mandated by DOJ are not available.
DOJ supposed response was - so what - take out a loan if needed this is a mandate not an request. If the BOS fails to appropriate the mandated funds perhaps they can be held in contempt. I'd love to see the Hinds County Board of Supervisors in orange jumpsuits down at Raymond Detention Center!
Well folks, looks like thats it ole Victor Mason and his regime.
Just like Tyrone, one and done. Tyrone, if you're reading This, please run again, so we'll split the votes..lol..
Looks like Spooners got it folks, entertain us, we'll take all comers.
KF, what did the judge say? Can you create another post for that information?
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