The U.S. Department of Justice informed Gov. Haley Barbour late last year that it had begun an investigation into the treatment of juveniles at the prison.
A former inmate testified today at a House Juvenile Justice Committee hearing that he was beaten at the state's youth prison.
Jackson lawyer Robert McDuff filed at lawsuit against Florida-based the GEO Group on behalf of 13 youthful offenders at the Leake County prison. It alleges young offenders at the 1,200-inmate prison are being forced to live in "barbaric, unconstitutional conditions."
Other defendants in the lawsuit are state Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, which was created by the city to oversee the facility, and others.
Walton told state lawmakers today of being beaten by guards and seeing other inmates being beaten. "I've witnessed guards beat inmates over drug money," he said.
He said he's seen the staff bring drugs to the facility, including marijuana, cocaine and pills.
Prices at the prison canteen are hugely inflated, he said. The price of a bar of Irish Spring? $2. The price of a tube of Colgate? $5.
Shannon Busby and her husband told the committee that the same Ramen soup that cost 15 cents at Walmart is $4.60 in the canteen.
She told the committee about the experiences of her son, Kenneth Page, at the prison.
"He wants to be be somebody," she said. "He wants to change his past."
They are unable to send him a Bible, she said. The only Bible he can get they must order from the prison's website.
The same website allowed them to buy him a Christmas dinner for $100, she said. "We didn't do it because we couldn't afford it."
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