I found another version of the article in the OP of this thread...so I'm adding it here for posterity's sake...
Color emphasis mine.
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Justice Dept. says adolescents tied up, stripped at training schoolsBy EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
The Associated Press
7/14/2003, 6:11 p.m. CTJACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Adolescents at two Mississippi training schools have been hogtied, shackled to poles, ordered to exercise at odd hours and forced to eat their own vomit when they get sick from the exertion, a U.S. Department of Justice report says.
"In America ... we are protected by the Constitution, and that does include kids. And yet you have one of the 50 states subjecting kids to just blatant torture," said Danielle Lipow, attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.
Department of Justice employees interviewed young people and employees last summer and fall at
Columbia Training School and
Oakley Training School.
The 48-page report was dated June 19, but Lipow said Monday that she had only learned of its release late last week.
A spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the training centers, said DHS has made "considerable changes" at Oakley and Columbia since Department of Justice workers' initial visit more than a year ago.
"However, MDHS' attempts to investigate the allegations outlined in the report have been hampered by DOJ's refusal to release the names of the employees mentioned in their findings as well as the names of the children who made the allegations," DHS spokesman Cory Wofford said in a written statement.
Department of Justice spokesman Jorge Martinez in Washington said he could not comment on the training school investigation beyond what's in the report because "it is an open matter."
Young people aged 10-17 are sent to the training schools after facing repeated charges for property crimes or other offenses. The Justice Department report said 75 percent of girls are committed for status offenses, probation violations or contempt of court. Most boys at Oakley, near Raymond, are in for property offenses, low-level drug possession charges or auto theft charges.
The report said "staff at Oakley and Columbia use excessive force with impunity."
Suicidal girls at Columbia were sometimes stripped naked and put in isolation in a poorly ventilated "dark room" with only a hole in the floor for a toilet, the report said.
"According to Columbia staff, the reason girls must remove their clothing before being placed in the dark room is that there is metal grating on the ceiling and the cell door which could be used for hanging attempts by suicidal girls," the report said. "Such suicidal hazards should be remedied rather than requiring suicidal children to strip naked."
The report said one girl had said she was put in the "dark room" for three days and her requests for water were largely ignored.
The report said pepper spray was used for punishment when young people showed suicidal behavior or did not exercise or perform military drills. It said one girl was sprayed after she complained of the heat and had trouble keeping up with a group during exercise on a parade field.
It said boys were sometimes punished by being forced to run around tables for hours with mattresses on their backs.
"Girls are punished in the military field by being forced to run with automobile tires around their bodies or carrying logs," the report said. "Girls reported being forced to eat their own vomit if they throw up from exercising in the hot sun."
The report said there was no rehabilitative value to the exercises, many of which were "cruel and demeaning."
Justice Department workers also found unsanitary kitchen conditions at Oakley, including mouse droppings and cockroaches.
Wofford said the state attorney general has been unable to investigate or prosecute employees accused of acts in the federal report, despite repeated requests to the Department of Justice for information.
"Until MDHS and the attorney general's office can receive the names of those who have been accused of such deplorable acts, DOJ is continuing to place the safety and well being of the children at both facilities at risk," Wofford said.
Lee Ann Mayo, a spokeswoman for Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, said Musgrove has been briefed on the report.
"The safety and well being of Mississippi's children is of the utmost importance," Mayo said. "He has full confidence in the (state) attorney general and the professionals at DHS to ensure that our children are protected."
State Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, chairman of the House Juvenile Justice Committee, called the report "another black eye for Mississippi."
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., asked the Department of Justice to investigate the training schools last year after parents of cadets came forward with allegations of inadequate medical care and sexual misconduct by guards.
Thompson said the report showed that young people who are supposed to be rehabilitated are instead put into situations that are "intolerable and illegal."
"They are put there for their own protection, not to be abused or misused," Thompson said.
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