Jackson Free Press

Jackson Public Schools is looking into allegations that security guards at the district's alternative school have been punishing students by handcuffing them to chairs, bathroom railings and a gymnasium pole.

The Mississippi Youth Justice Project, an advocacy project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, alerted JPS to the allegations in an April 15 cease-and-desist letter. In the letter, MYJP attorneys Sheila Bedi, Jody Owens and Poonam Juneja wrote that the use of unreasonable physical restraints as punishment violates students' constitutional rights.

"We hope to collaborate with JPS to end these abuses, but we are prepared to file a federal lawsuit to address these issues if JPS is not willing to reform these unconstitutional policies and practices immediately," the letter states.

Staff at Capital City Alternative School regularly use handcuffs to punish minor infractions such as talking back or not wearing a belt, the letter alleges. The letter also enumerates several specific incidents of unreasonable punishment. In one case, a bus driver handcuffed an emotionally disabled student for making a sarcastic remark. In another, a student in handcuffs asked to use the bathroom. In response, an administrator swore at him and grabbed his neck.

Beyond being unconstitutional, restraining children can also be dangerous, the letter asserts, noting that staff allegedly handcuffed students to a pole in the school gym and then left them unattended for hours.

In a letter Monday, JPS attorney JoAnne Nelson Shepherd said that the district "is currently investigating the allegations" and "has also reminded its administrative staff at the Capital City alternative School to comply" with district policy which forbids such punishment.

Alternative schools "perform a punitive function, deterring misconduct and temporarily isolating students who misbehave," the ACLU noted in a 2009 report, "Missing the Mark: Alternative Schools in Mississippi." "But they also serve an important remedial purpose: helping struggling students to succeed, rather than drifting toward dropout and failure. Unfortunately, where alternative schools neglect their remedial role and overemphasize punishment, they may contribute to a nationwide trend, known as the school-to-prison pipeline, toward pushing out and criminalizing students who misbehave."

The ACLU report found that many alternative schools in the state overemphasized punishment and gave short shrift to the part of their mission that called for helping students get back on track.