Lawsuit claims mistreatment, wrongful imprisonment at Lee County Jail
Jun. 16—TUPELO — A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges mistreatment, abuse, false imprisonment and constitutional violations at the Lee County Jail.
In her lawsuit, Guntown resident Havana Maria Wade claims that "harsh, arbitrary and inhuman" conditions exist at the Lee County Jail.
The litigation lodges three major allegations:
—Wade was imprisoned by a corrections officer without a valid warrant.
—Lee County jail authorities improperly held Waide without opportunity for bail or other pre-trial release.
—Dangerous conditions exist at the jail, including a lack of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This litigation was filed Tuesday, and Lee County has not made any formal response to the allegations the suit contains.
Gary Carnathan, an attorney who represents Lee County, told the Daily Journal he had not reviewed the suit, but that as a matter of course he won't comment about ongoing litigation.
Wade is represented by local attorney Jim Waide. The two are not related, and though their last names sound alike, they are spelled differently.
Attorney questions cause of jail crowding
Amid ongoing claims about overcrowding at the Lee County Jail, Waide said his client's suit should provoke concerns that such overcrowding may be a result of mismanagement as well as detention practices that violate Mississippi's rules for criminal procedure.
Even aside from questions about the validity of any warrant against her, Waide says his client should have been released rather than held for three days on an alleged 10-year drug possession charge.
"They are talking about building a new jail, but do we have a bunch of people over there who don't belong there?" Waide said.
Mississippi's rules of criminal procedure require that, once arrested, "A defendant should be released pending trial whenever possible."
This presumption toward release may not be guiding practice at the Lee County Jail, Waide said.
"I am concerned that they are not following those rules and they are not making any efforts to get people out of the jail," said the attorney.
Detention came
during pandemic
In July 2020, Wade learned while seeking employment that a background check had identified a criminal charge. Wade went to the Lee County Sheriff's Department to find out more information.
Once at the jail, a corrections officer told Wade that a warrant for her arrest had been issued in 2010 for charges of possession of a controlled substance.
At the point, the suit charges that the officer in question, identified only as "Donald," had Wade strip searched, threw her face mask into a garbage can and imprisoned her in a holding cell with about a dozen other women, all "without taking Plaintiff's temperature or engaging in any steps to protect against COVID-19."
She remained in the jail from Friday, July 30, to Monday, August 3, without seeing a judge.
According to the suit, Wade was only released after the intervention of constable Phil Gann and an unidentified narcotics officer, who determined there was no reason to hold Wade.
According to the suit, no evidence of a 2010 warrant or drug possession charge can be found, only a 2010 trespassing affidavit that was quickly withdrawn.
The suit also alleges that while at the Lee County Jail, Wade witnessed a correction officer beating another woman who had been detained. She was also allegedly unable to take a shower for three days and endured other unsanitary conditions.
