Supervisors urged to look into prisoners' rights issues

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
September 21, 2004
Lauderdale County supervisors heard allegations Monday that some prisoners' civil rights are being violated in the county jail.
Harrison Lewis, executive director of the Coalition for Change, addressed the board. Lewis is also a local radio personality known as "The Truthmaster" on WNBN 1290 AM.
Lewis told supervisors that qualified voters who are in jail and have the right to vote in elections are not allowed to do so in Lauderdale County.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie said prisoners who are qualified to vote are allowed to vote by absentee ballot, but he said he couldn't recall any prisoner doing that.
Sollie said he will not take prisoners to the polls to vote in elections, but he said he has allowed outside organizations to do voter registration drives in the jail and that he would allow it again under certain safety guidelines.
Civil rights
Lewis also asked supervisors to investigate allegations, made public this summer by the Meridian-Lauderdale County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, that a 17-year-old inmate had his civil rights violated in March when he was tied to a pole in the jail for 30-45 minutes.
District 2 Supervisor Jimmie Smith, who serves on the board's jail committee, told Lewis the incident could not be discussed in detail because of pending litigation. He also said the board of supervisors is not the sheriff's "boss."
Smith also told Lewis that the supervisors' jail committee was not formed to hear every complaint about the jail.
Jail death
Supervisors also heard from Gary Robertson, brother of the late Sammy Robertson, who died in the Lauderdale County jail in October 2001. Robertson said his brother was not properly cared for in the jail.
He said an autopsy report shows his brother died of alcohol poisoning.
Sollie said today his department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol investigated Robertson's death. He said he is convinced that Robertson was was treated properly and that all procedures were followed.
Robertson was booked into the county jail on public drunk charges at about 7 p.m. Oct. 20. His body was discovered by correctional officers about seven hours later.
Joe Norwood, board of supervisors president and District 4 supervisor, said the board's jail committee discussed some of the allegations earlier on Monday.