Jackson Free Press

The details are too similar. A school security officer leads a student to the stairs near the gym. He closes one cuff on the child's wrist and the other on the stair railing. He leaves the student alone for hours.

Many Capital City Alternative School students tell the same story. They claim extreme and excessive treatment for infractions such as not wearing a belt, wearing the wrong shoes or talking back.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court June 8, saying Jackson Public Schools unconstitutionally punished students over minor offenses. Children as young as 9 face severe punishment for dress code violations or talking back at the alternative school, neither of which are crimes.

A 15-year-old girl loudly called out the name of a friend in the hall to get her attention. A "campus enforcement officer," the suit alleges, told her to 
"shut up."

"Who are you talking to? I ain't your child," the girl said.

For talking back, the officer walked the girl down the hall where they met principal Marie Harris, the suit alleges. She asked where the officer was taking the student. "To the stairway," he said. Harris allowed him to continue. The officer cuffed the girl to the railing and left her alone for hours.

Jackson Public Schools released a statement last week saying it takes any allegation of this nature seriously.

"The JPS legal department will respond to the lawsuit in the appropriate legal manner," the statement reads. "JPS 
is totally and fully committed to providing a safe learning environment for all of 
its students."

Jody Owens, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center office in Jackson, said he is waiting to hear back from the school district. JPS has 21 days to respond to 
the complaint. "We want to bring this to a quick resolution," Owens said.

The lawsuit details other allegations from other students.

Earlier this spring, the suit says, a boy showed up at school without his belt. The 16-year-old walked up to the metal detector that all the students at the alternative school have to go through. The boy reported to in-school suspension for violating the dress code. A counselor offered him a replacement belt so he could go to class. Bobby Walden, assistant principal, stopped the counselor. The boy protested. He wasn't physically aggressive, and he didn't threaten anyone.

For talking back, the assistant principal told a school safety officer to take the boy to the school gym and handcuff him there. Officer Franklin McGee, the suit alleges, took the boy to a spot in the gym next to the stairs leading up to the stage, handcuffing him to the railing. One cuff went on the boy's wrist, the other on the railing. No one uncuffed the boy so he could eat lunch. Someone brought him food, and he ate cuffed to the railing.

The SPLC lawsuit claims that the boy faced the same punishment three more times that week for not following the dress code. "This excessive use of restraints was not designed to reduce or curb misbehavior or prevent violence," the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also alleges:

• A 14-year-old boy who wore a stocking cap to class threw his papers on the ground and refused to do his schoolwork. When he was left alone, cuffed to the railing, he yelled out because he had to go to the bathroom. The school safety officer refused to let him go. When the cuffs came off at the end of the school day, they left marks on his wrists. The boy got similar punishments for wearing mismatched shoelaces and not bringing back paperwork.

• A 14-year-old boy refused to take off his shoes during a routine search. He didn't want to do it and went to class upset. A school safety officer dragged him by his belt to the gym. The officer handcuffed his arm and leg and shackled the handcuffs to the pole. The boy said it was too tight. A school official called his mom, but when she got to the school she wasn't allowed to go to him. The officer uncuffed the boy and brought him to the office to his mother. She saw bruises and scratches on his wrists that he didn't have that morning.

• A 15-year-old boy was dancing and rapping in his classroom. Walden told him to stop. The boy stopped. "Boy, you look like you got an attitude," Walden allegedly said. Two security guards took the boy to the gym and handcuffed him to the stair railing. The cuffs left marks on his wrists.

The lawsuit asks the court to prohibit the school from cuffing students and to protect the students' constitutional rights.