Walnut Grove is a small town in Mississippi, just about
three hours from Memphis, and it was the site of Walnut Grove Youth Correctional
Facility. The facility was a private youth prison that faced multiple complaint
reports of organized fights, violent brawls that were not stopped by guards and
guards forcing inmates to perform sexual acts in exchange for food. According
to reporting by the research team for the podcast Criminal the inmates of Walnut Grove were about 80% African
American, although Mississippi as a whole was only about 35%.[1]
There is no separating race and pervasive corruption in the prison system. The demographics
alone are representative of the school-to-prison pipeline, but the prejudiced perspectives
of the prison staff and town further enhance the despicable reality of the
system. A former guard described the inmates as “not children who disobeyed
their parents [but] hardened criminals … [who] had a problem with society,” other
town members responded to the reports of misconduct and brutality in the facility
with dismissive statements like: “Well it is a prison, and you’re gonna have
problems in a prison.”[2]
The Department of Justice concluded in their investigation that the prison was “not
adequately protecting” the inmates. Walnut Grove was converted to an adult
facility and later shut down. Many people living in Walnut Grove are unhappy
with the decision though, as the prison was the main employer for the area and
the town has been nearly bankrupted by the loss of revenue.
Public prisons are often no better than private prisons. Prisons
in Arizona are facing federal sanctions in response to mistreatment of inmates.
The healthcare provider Corizon, which employs specialists for jails and
provides healthcare resources to many public prisons, is being sued by
thousands of inmates for withholding medications and treatments. The complaints
include withholding access to medication
from inmates suffering from AIDS, seizure disorders, and even those presenting
with heart attack symptoms.[3]
There was already a settlement in 2012 that was supposed to improve the quality
of care provided by Corizon, but a new investigation reveals little has changed;
testimony in the case was recently heard by a federal judge.
Prison conditions across the country are abusive and
inhumane, and when the system intentionally targets black men more than any
other group, it’s not just a human rights violation, it is a hate crime.
[1] Pheobe Judge, Walnut Grove,
Criminal, n.d., http://www.thisiscriminal.com/episode-58-walnut-grove-1-6-2017.
[2] Judge.
[3] Jimmy Jenkins, “Arizona Prisons Face
Federal Sanctions Over Prisoners’ Health Care : NPR,” March 2, 2018,
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/02/590121817/arizona-prisons-face-federal-sanctions-over-prisoners-health-care.
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