Southside man still critical after wreck

From staff reports

03-07-2008

A Southside man remained in critical condition Thursday night at UAB Hospitals in Birmingham in the aftermath of a Wednesday evening two-vehicle accident on U.S. 431 that killed a Florida man.

No other information was available on the injuries sustained by Adam Moore, 32, of Southside, who was airlifted to the Birmingham hospital after an extended extraction from the wreckage.

Daniel Joseph Neill, 47, of Lake Worth, Fla., died when the Dodge Durango rental vehicle he was driving and the Honda Accord driven by Moore collided around 6:15 p.m., Wednesday, Alabama State Troopers reported.

The accident occurred about 9 miles north of Anniston near the Wellington Post Office, troopers said.

2 men arrested in restaurant robbery

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-07-2008

Anniston police arrested two men Wednesday and charged them in the robbery of the Wings Wings and More Wings restaurant last month. Police also charged one of the men in connection with an unrelated shooting.

Robert Kawon Ware, 23, of Cobb Avenue, and Mundrako Diwunn Hector, 24, of Parkwin Avenue, both were charged with first-degree robbery, according to Anniston police reports.

Anniston police also charged Hector with first-degree assault, in an unrelated case. Investigators said he and a group of men got into an altercation with a security guard patrolling a business near the 1000 block of South Quintard around 8 p.m. on Feb. 25.

The group of men loaded into a car and were leaving the area when Hector allegedly fired several shots from a handgun in the direction of the guard. No one was injured.

Resolution could be delayed in lawsuit brought against Murray

By Megan Nichols
Star Staff Writer

03-07-2008

Former Probate Judge Arthur Murray claims no wrongdoing in his answer to a lawsuit brought against him by the Calhoun County Commission over $19,496 state auditors said Murray should not have received.

The commission filed suit Jan. 16, asking a judge to rule on whether Murray legally could bill the county for preparing countywide voter lists from 2003 to 2006.

Tom Young, who is representing the County Commission in the suit, said its resolution could be delayed for some time because all local judges have recused themselves.

"It's understandable," Young said. "This is the kind of case where everyone knows everyone. I don't blame them a bit."

Young said they are now waiting for the state Administrative Office of Courts to appoint an out-of-county judge to preside.

Murray charged the county 5 cents per name for the seven lists his office produced during that period.

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Police: No sexual assault in Auburn student's slaying

By JOHN ZENOR
Associated Press Writer

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- A slain Auburn University student was not sexually assaulted and authorities are examining a gas can to see if it was used in the burning of her car, police said Friday.

"Anything that could be remotely connected to this case ... we're going to rule it out, and that's what we're trying to do with the gas can," said Thomas Dawson, Auburn's assistant police chief.

Lauren Burk, an 18-year-old freshman from Marietta, Ga., was found shot and wounded on a roadside about five miles from the school Tuesday night and later died at a hospital. Her 2001 Honda Civic was discovered burning in a parking lot on campus.

Dawson said speculation that Burk might have been sexually assaulted was untrue.

"The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences told us that she was not sexually assaulted," he said. "I know that's been out there. I wanted to make that clear. I've already made it clear to the family that she was not sexually assaulted."

Dawson said the gas can was found in the downtown area after the killing, and is being tested for possible DNA evidence or fingerprints since "some type of petroleum accelerant was used to start the fire."

"We're trying not to leave any stone unturned in this case," he said.

Auburn's downtown is just off campus.

The family, meanwhile, announced that it has established a fund to help lead to an arrest in the case. Contributions to the Lauren Burk Memorial Fund can be made at any Wachovia Bank "to help apprehend the person responsible for her death," the family said in a statement.

Study: Prisons for women need reform

By Markeshia Ricks
Star Capitol Correspondent

03-07-2008

MONTGOMERY — A report on female prisoners in Alabama shows that women are more likely than men to be incarcerated for non-violent crimes, though the men in their lives are most likely to turn them on to a life of crime.

The report also shows that the state's criminal justice system is male-oriented and has very little success in rehabilitating women.

The Commission on Girls and Women in the Criminal Justice System released "One Size Does Not Fit All: Research and Recommendations for Gender-Responsiveness in Alabama's Criminal Justice System" Thursday as the culmination of two years of work to address the needs of women in the state's criminal justice system.

Commission co-chairwoman Rep. Barbara Boyd, D-Anniston, said that during the past two years, the commission has toured state correctional facilities, collected data and spoken with female prisoners with the goal of determining problems in the system and their solutions.

"The report includes recommendations calling for more alternatives to incarceration, more female-centered rehabilitation, re-entry programming and better assessment tools that are responsive to the unique needs of women and girls," Boyd said.

The commission identified eight recommendations that Alabama could implement to provide an effective and cost-efficient response to the needs of female prisoners.

The commission recommended replacing Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women with a smaller facility and expanding community-based corrections programs.

There are currently 33 community corrections programs in the state that extend services to 44 counties, the report said.

Other recommendations address gender-based interventions, such as women-specific re-entry practices, case management and risk assessment.

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Several leads but no arrests in Auburn student slaying

By Desiree Hunter
Associated Press

03-07-2008

AUBURN — Investigators are pursuing several leads but have made no arrests in the shooting death of an Auburn University student, a homicide that led to the formation of a 30-member task force including FBI agents, authorities said Thursday.

"Somebody's daughter has been murdered and we're going to do all we can to solve it," said Auburn Assistant Police Chief Thomas Dawson.

Lauren Burk, an 18-year-old from Marietta, Ga., was found wounded by a gunshot on a roadside Tuesday night, about five miles from the school, and later died at a hospital. Her car also was found burning in a parking lot on campus.

Dawson would not say if Burk was able to give authorities any information before she died. He also would not say if there was a surveillance camera in the campus parking lot that might be of help to investigators.

He said there would be an increased police presence on campus until an arrest has been made.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said individuals have been interviewed, but authorities would not elaborate.

Auburn University officials advised students in an e-mail Wednesday that there was no indication that others on campus might be in danger. At a news conference Thursday, Dawson expressed a similar opinion.

"I do not have anything to suggest there is a threat at this time, anymore than any time or any day in the United States," he said.

Alabama legislators subpoenaed in probe of 2-year college system

By Phillip Rawls and Bob Johnson
Associated Press

03-07-2008

MONTGOMERY — At least eight present and former legislators, including two of the Senate's most powerful leaders, have been subpoenaed in the federal government's probe of corruption in the two-year college system.

Four state senators — President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove; Rules Chairman Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe; Judiciary Committee Chairman Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham; and Dean of the Senate Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals — received subpoenas, their attorney, Michel Nicrosi, said Thursday.

"We are in contact with the U.S. attorney's office and will proceed accordingly and appropriately," she said.

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FBI criminal referrals decline

Associated Press

03-07-2008

WASHINGTON — The FBI is submitting nearly 40 percent fewer criminal investigations to the Justice Department for possible prosecution than it did two decades ago. The decline is mostly the result of the bureau's heavy focus on terrorism investigations in recent years.

The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks changed the FBI's focus, but other agencies that are heavily engaged in white-collar criminal investigations are showing similar changes, says the study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

A top FBI official said the agency's new emphasis on stopping terrorists was necessary — and effective.

The flip side to the declines is the soaring number of immigration investigations, which now account for more than a quarter of all criminal referrals to the Justice Department, according to TRAC.

Other agencies that are seeing dramatic declines in referrals include the Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Zerometh program advertises dangers of drug

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-06-2008

Zerometh combines print, television and outdoor media, like this billboard, in a campaign against the use of meth. Photo: Special to The Star

Speed, chalk, ice, crank, crystal, crypto, fire, glass, tina, meth — so many names for the same problem.

By any name, prosecutors across the state have been put on the defensive by the realities of methamphetamine use and production.

"It's an act of defense and desperation," said Calhoun-Cleburne County District Attorney Joe Hubbard. "We've got to get a handle on it."

The latest in a line of strategies is called Zerometh, an advertising campaign that was formally launched Feb. 22.

The name itself admittedly is overly optimistic, Hubbard said.

The campaign is based around three "very graphic" video clips made by a Los Angeles-based production company. They are designed to provoke a visceral response from teens and young adults.

Former meth users "felt compelled" to illustrate a more accurate reflection of the realities of meth addiction, Hubbard said.

"I don't know what I'm doing," says a former user in one clip over discordant images of confusion and decay.

"This doesn't feel right … it never really has," says another voice.

"I didn't know it would be this way, now I know," says another.

The horror-film style of the clips is mirrored in a set of print advertisements and a companion Web site: www.Zerometh.com.

The $1 million campaign is the result of a combined effort from Governor Bob Riley's office, the Alabama District Attorneys' Association, individual district attorneys' offices and federal funds.

"Everybody realizes it is a problem," said Hubbard. "This is my 30th year down here, and I've seen about every kind of illicit drug that can be used, but meth takes the cake in terms of addiction, side effects, and use.

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Annual CSEPP training exercise held at Anniston's depot

By Todd South
Star Staff Writer

03-06-2008

Trained responders at Anniston Army Depot participated in an annual Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness training exercise on Wednesday at the depot. Photo: Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star

Lt. Col. Phillip Trued listened as the speakerphone voice rattled off what was happening on the ground.

Information was fuzzy, but the team knew one man was dead, three others wounded and a wind heading southwest had spread a plume of deadly nerve agent across the base.

Trued looked around the table and fired calm but pointed questions at his staff. A 20-year career marked by various chemical weapons training and leadership positions had prepared him for this moment.

"What's the goal for the next four hours?" Trued asked his people. For the next few hours, successes would be measured in time.

Star Multimedia
Video: Decontamination drill A HAZMAT teams works to decontaminate 'victims' as part of an EMA drill Wednesday.

The simulated accident was an annual Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness training exercise at the Anniston Army Depot, but for those involved it may as well have been the real deal.

While offsite risk of chemical weapons exposure has been reduced with the elimination of GB munitions and nerve-agent-filled rockets, a risk still exists, and the depot and community must be prepared to respond.

In the adjoining room, a bank of computer screens tracked the deadly plume and updated area emergency agencies with data on the situation.

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Online child porno network one of most sophisticated ever

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, man is one of a dozen Americans accused of participating in a global child pornography ring that distributed more than 400,000 lewd pictures and movies.

Court documents show James Freeman expressed his appreciation for being accepted into the group by posting two folders online: one labeled "mild," the other, "wild."

Authorities describe the online forum, which was encrypted to keep police out, as one of the most sophisticated pornographic networks ever.

The indictment unsealed last week in federal court in Pensacola said some of the victims were as young as 5 years old. Others were preyed upon for innocent characteristics such as wearing their hair in pigtails.

Authorities said 22 people were swept up in arrests in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany and England.

3 men arrested after ecstasy is seized during traffic stop

EUFAULA, Ala. (AP) -- Three men are being held in the Barbour County Jail after authorities said they were found with dozens of Ecstasy pills.

The Barbour County Sheriff's Office said about 100 pills were found hidden inside a video tape in a car driven by 18-year-old Sean Davis Lumpkin of East Ridge, Tennessee. The vehicle was stopped for speeding Monday on County Road 40, near U.S. 431.

Deputies arrested Lumpkin and two passengers, 20-year-old Marcus Lane and 18-year-old Jeffrey Monteith, both of Panama City, Florida.

Sheriff's officials said deputies also seized marijuana, a hand gun and an estimated $3,000 in cash. Each were charged with trafficking ecstasy, marijuana possession and carrying a concealed weapon. Bail was set at $80,000.

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Mother, son slain in Mobile

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- The murders of a mother and her young son is under investigation by Mobile police. According to Eric Gallichant, a public information officer, the homicide occurred early Wednesday at about 1 a.m. at a mobile home park in Semmes.

Gallichant declined to release the victims' names, but he said one person was taken into custody. More information about the double homicide could be released later today.

Information sought in February homicide

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-04-2008

Investigators on Monday continued to search for leads in last month's assault-turned-murder of a 48-year-old Anniston man.

Terry Bates, whose last known address was a religious shelter on 38th Street in Anniston, died Feb. 22 from injuries he reportedly sustained in an assault 10 days earlier.

Bates told police he was walking sometime between midnight and 3 a.m. when three men came from around a house somewhere on 18th Street and attacked him, according to a police report taken at the hospital.

Bates managed to walk to a Laundromat at 1731 Wilmer Ave. where he called 911. He was treated at a local hospital for hemorrhaging caused by a broken jaw. He later died from his injuries.

Police are asking that anyone with information about Bates or the attack call 238-1800 or Crime Stoppers at 238-1414.

Anniston pedestrian assaulted, robbed

By Nick Cenegy

Star Staff Writer

03-04-2008

Two men robbed a 24-year-old Anniston man as he walked near the 1800 block of Quintard Avenue late Saturday night, according to police.

The man was walking north around 11:40 p.m., when two men approached and asked him for money, Anniston Police said.

The victim tried to ignore them and continued walking, said investigators.

According to police reports, the men caught up with him, punched him in the head with their fists several times, took his headphones, and fled.

Alleged shooter gets additional charge

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-04-2008

Anniston police on Friday added a new charge against the man accused of shooting a 31-year-old Anniston resident who was in his car waiting for a school bus on Highland Avenue last week.

Patrick Ray Watkins, 26, of Anniston, now is charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied building — the vehicle — in addition to the first-degree assault charge for which he was already in custody.

According to police reports, the victim was sitting in a car with his wife and children, waiting for a school bus around 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning near the 900 block of Highland when Watkins approached the car and shot him several times.

The victim drove to Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for four gunshot wounds. Police said he underwent surgery late Thursday morning and was expected to fully recover.

The victim's wife and children were not injured.

Piedmont man killed in ATV accident

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-04-2008

A 24-year-old Piedmont man was killed in a four-wheeler accident Sunday in Cherokee County. Kenneth Holbrook was pronounced dead on the scene around 5 p.m. after he lost control of his four-wheeler and struck a tree on Cherokee County Road 172, Alabama State Troopers said. The accident occurred about two miles east of Piedmont.

Crack offenders could have terms reduced under new guidelines

By Karen Matthews
Associated Press

03-04-2008

NEW YORK — Marsha Cunningham was no drug dealer. But when authorities busted her boyfriend in the 1990s for selling crack and powdered cocaine, they also arrested her on a crack possession charge.

Her sentence: Fifteen years behind bars, only two less than her boyfriend got.

But Cunningham is now one of up to 20,000 inmates convicted of crack offenses who may see their prison terms reduced under new federal guidelines intended to bring retroactive fairness to drug sentencing.

"Marsha is a really good person," said her aunt, Ruby Jones of Houston.

The sentencing guidelines went into effect Monday — the result of a December decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to ease the way the system came down far harder on crack-related crimes than on those involving powdered cocaine.

Previously, a person with one gram of crack would receive the same sentence as someone with 100 grams of the powdered form of cocaine. The disparity has been decried as racially discriminatory, since four of every five crack defendants in the U.S. are black, while most powdered-cocaine convictions involve whites.

"The sentences for crack cocaine have been one of the most corrosive and unjust areas of criminal law," said Michael Nachmanoff, head of the federal public defender's office for the Eastern District of Virginia. "It's really undermined respect for the criminal justice system, not only in the African-American community but throughout the country."

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Police charge man with murder in Feb. 17 shooting

By Nick Cenegy
Star Staff Writer

03-01-2008

Anniston police arrested the man accused of the Feb. 17 murder of Jerry Lewis Turner, 54, of Anniston at the Downtowner Inn around 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Police charged Willie Jefferson Davis, 53, of Gurnee Avenue, with murder in the shooting death of Turner near the 300 block of K Street.

According to police reports, a resident in the area heard gunshots around 4:30 a.m. Feb. 17, walked outside to investigate, and found Turner on the ground.

Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown pronounced Turner dead on the scene around 5 a.m.

An autopsy conducted at the Alabama Department of Forensics lab in Huntsville concluded that Turner died from a single small-caliber gunshot wound to the upper neck, Brown said last week. The autopsy showed Turner was shot from the front and no other major wounds, he said.

Investigators have not said what they believe motivated the shooting.

Davis was in Calhoun County Jail on Friday morning, with bail set at $125,000.

Former Wadley interim police chief arrested

By Andy Johns
Star Staff Writer

03-01-2008

Wadley's disputed interim police chief was arrested Thursday by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

Marc Green, a Wadley police officer whom the town's mayor called the interim police chief until Monday, has been charged with first-degree theft and third-degree burglary in connection with a December break-in at Stephen's Station on Alabama 22, according to Randolph County District Attorney Paul Jones.

Jones said he was not aware of any allegations that Green might have used any powers as police chief to facilitate the alleged burglary.

Green was taken to the Randolph County jail, but bonded out later Thursday, according to Randolph County sheriff's deputies.

Jones and an ABI spokeswoman said an investigation led to the arrest. They said no further details would be available until the case is tried.

Green was appointed interim police chief in December, but the town council replaced him on Feb. 19. Wadley Mayor Bruce Albright refused to acknowledge the appointment of the new chief, Timothy Terry, and re-appointed Green.

Albright said Friday he was not sure if the town had a chief, because he did not attend Thursday's town council meeting.

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State DYS abuse claim data lacking for private facilities

By Desiree Hunter
Associated Press

03-03-2008

MONTGOMERY — Call up Alabama's Department of Youth Services and staff members can tell you fairly quickly how many claims of assault, sexual abuse and other violations have been made by young people housed in the six youth facilities run by the state.

But the same information is not so readily available for the 26 privately run facilities that the state agency pays to house youthful offenders. Private detention centers hold about half of the agency's juvenile wards, but DYS says it doesn't routinely keep statistics to show what is going on in those lockups.

The Associated Press contacted the state agency as part of a national project that found a lack of oversight and standards makes it hard to determine how many youngsters have been assaulted or neglected while in youth centers around the country.

After the AP's inquiries, Alabama DYS officials said changes will be made later this year to begin keeping better track of information on abuse claims in the private centers.

Allen Peaton, spokesman for DYS, said not being able to check information from private facilities is a problem and the state will begin requiring the centers to track and report abuse and assault claims to DYS when new contracts are awarded in October.

Youth advocates say it's dangerous that problems at private facilities aren't tracked more closely because not having the information readily available makes it harder to determine when centers have become problematic.

"The Department of Youth Services could certainly have more organized, more efficient record keeping than they do when it comes to private facilities," said Wendy Crew, chairwoman of the Board of the Children First Foundation.

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Civil rights activist Dorothy Tillman arrested

Associated Press

03-03-2008

MONTGOMERY — Former Chicago alderman and civil rights activist Dorothy Tillman was arrested and charged Sunday with criminal trespassing in an incident at a hospital in her native Montgomery.

The arrest came after a confrontation with officials at Jackson Hospital over access to medical records for Tillman's 86-year-old ailing aunt.

Police Lt. Ron Cook said Tillman, 60, was arrested at 6:32 a.m. and released at 8:14 a.m. A pastor posted Tillman's $300 bond and a March 31 court date was set, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Jackson Hospital spokesman Peter Frohmader told The Associated Press hospital security called police, but he declined further comment Sunday afternoon until he learns more details. A statement could come today, he said.

Tillman had attended a funeral Saturday morning for civil rights icon Johnnie Carr and that evening had taken her aunt, Mabel Barker, to the hospital.

State Dems call for investigation into Siegelman case

Associated Press

03-02-2008

MONTGOMERY — The State Democratic Executive Committee has approved a resolution calling for an investigation of former Gov. Don Siegelman's conviction and for Siegelman to be freed from federal prison while the investigation is conducted.

The executive committee passed the resolution on a voice vote Saturday in Montgomery.

The resolution, proposed by committee member Vi Parramore of Birmingham, calls for "a full investigation into the mishandling of evidence in Don Siegelman's case" and the prosecution of anyone who incarcerated Siegelman due to political motives.

A jury convicted the former Democratic governor of bribery and obstruction charges in 2006. He is serving a sentence of more than seven years at a federal prison in Oakdale, La.

Jury recommends life in prison for Birmingham killer

From wire reports

03-02-2008

BIRMINGHAM — Jurors recommend life in prison without parole for 25-year-old Montez Spradley who was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of a Center Point woman.

The victim, Marlene Jason, was attacked and shot in the face on Jan. 9, 2004 when she returned home from shopping for her grandchildren.

The jury's guilty verdict and recommended penalty came Friday.

Circuit Judge Gloria Bahakel set sentencing for April 21 and could impose a death sentence.

State Supreme Court candidate resigns to campaign full time

From wire reports

03-02-2008

MONTGOMERY — Lauderdale County District Judge Deborah Bell Paseur said Saturday she will resign her judgeship April 1 to devote full time to her Democratic campaign for the Alabama Supreme Court.

Paseur said she decided to give up the post she has held for 27 years because "the people of Lauderdale County deserve someone who can devote full time to that court."

Saturday was the first day for Democratic candidates to sign up for the party primary on June 3. Paseur, the only announced Democratic candidate for the Supreme Court, filed her papers during a Democratic Party meeting in Montgomery.

On the Republican side, Criminal Appeals Court Judge Greg Shaw is the only announced candidate for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Republican Harold See.

Paseur was not alone in filing qualifying papers Saturday. State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile signed up to run against Republican incumbent Jeff Sessions for the U.S. Senate.

Former Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley had previously announced that she would file Saturday to run for the presidency of the Alabama Public Service Commission, but she postponed that until Monday because she sold her house in Vestavia Hills and was moving Saturday, campaign spokesman Windy Leavell said.

Northport teenager dies playing game of Russian roulette

From wire reports

03-02-2008

NORTHPORT — A Northport teenager died after accidentally shooting himself while playing a deadly game of Russian roulette.

Northport Police Chief Robert Green says that the 15-year-old boy suffered the fatal gunshot wound Thursday while playing the game.

The boy had been loading and unloading the gun before he shot himself. There was only one bullet in the gun when it fired.

The teen's name has not been released and the investigation continues. Criminal charges are not expected, Green says.

Capt. Loyd Baker, commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, says that a 24-year-old woman in the apartment called 911 when she heard a shot.

4 middle school students linked to cell phone nudity

Associated Press

03-02-2008

DAPHNE — Four students at Daphne Middle School — two boys and two girls — used cell phone cameras to take nude photos of themselves and exchanged the images, police said.

Daphne Police Lt. Judson Beedy said the investigation has focused on two separate incidents that occurred about two weeks ago.

No arrests have been made, but potential charges could range from dissemination or display of child pornography, a class B felony, to material harmful to minors, a misdemeanor.

In the first incident, a girl and a boy met off campus, took nude photographs of themselves and sent the photographs to each other by using their cell phones.

The second involved a different boy giving a cell phone to a different girl, who went into the girls' rest room at the school, took nude photos of herself and returned the phone to the boy.

Photos from the incidents were apparently seen and exchanged by other students. Police do not believe the pictures resulted in any sexual contact or abuse.

The Baldwin County Board of Education banned students from having cell phones at school in August 2006, but students have reported that the restriction is enforced at some schools and not at others.

Three students, two sixth-graders and a seventh-grader, involved have been suspended from the Daphne school for five days.

Alabama sex offender arrested in Mississippi transferred to feds

From wire reports

03-02-2008

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — An Alabama man discovered in December walking in the nude in a Mississippi park has been transferred to federal custody.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said Michael Ryan South, 45, of Whistler, was moved Friday to an undisclosed federal prison in Alabama. South faces federal charges in Alabama of crossing state lines to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile while being a registered sex offender.

South pleaded guilty to Mississippi indecent exposure charges in January resulting from his nude Dec. 15 walk in Lum Cumbest Park in Jackson County.

The federal charges stem from a Nov. 4 incident, in which South allegedly walked up naked to a residence near the Cumbest park and tried to entice a 9-year-old boy at the residence into the woods.

The federal charges against South carry a possibility of life in prison, Byrd said. Byrd said state charges in November incident carried a maximum penalty of 20 years.

Juvenile detention centers record 13,000 claims

By Holbrook Mohr
Associated Press

03-03-2008

COLUMBIA, Miss. — The Columbia Training School — pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside — has been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.

Graphic

Claims of abuse in juvenile detention centers (.pdf)

If some of those girls and their advocates are to be believed, it is also a cruel and frightening place.

The school has been sued twice in the past four years. One suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department, which the state settled in 2005, claimed detainees were thrown naked in to cells and forced to eat their own vomit. The second one, brought by eight girls last year, said they were subjected to "horrendous physical and sexual abuse." Several of the detainees said they were shackled for 12 hours a day.

These are harsh and disturbing charges — and, in the end, they were among the reasons why state officials announced in February that they will close Columbia. But they aren't uncommon.

Across the country, in state after state, child advocates have deplored the conditions under which young offenders are housed — conditions that include sexual and physical abuse and even deaths in restraints. The U.S. Justice Department has filed lawsuits against facilities in 11 states for supervision that is either abusive or harmfully lax and shoddy.

Still, a lack of oversight and nationally accepted standards of tracking abuse make it difficult to know exactly how many youngsters have been assaulted or neglected.

The Associated Press contacted each state agency that oversees juvenile correction centers and asked for information on the number of deaths as well as the number of allegations and confirmed cases of physical, sexual and emotional abuse by staff members since Jan. 1, 2004.

According to the survey, more than 13,000 claims of abuse were identified in juvenile correction centers around the country from 2004 through 2007 — a remarkable total, given that the total population of detainees was about 46,000 at the time the states were surveyed in 2007.

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