Victims of racially motivated torture ‘welcome’ DOJ probe of Rankin County Sheriff’s Office

(NEW YORK) — The attorney for two Black men whose racially motivated torture led to the conviction of six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers called for justice amid a new U.S. Department of Justice announced civil rights probe into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD), where five of the former sheriff’s deputies worked.

Malik Shabazz, the lead attorney representing Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, said during a video press conference Monday from his office in Greenbelt, Maryland, that the two men and their legal team “welcome this federal investigation into Rankin County and into Sheriff Bryan Bailey. It is long overdue.”

The investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department “will seek to determine whether RCSD engages in patterns or practices that violate the Constitution and federal law,” according to the DOJ announcement.

The probe is separate from the initial investigation launched by the DOJ last year into the Jan. 24, 2023 torture of Jenkins and Parker, which led to the conviction of five former sheriff’s deputies, as well as a former Richland, Mississippi police officer who was also involved in the incident, on both federal and state charges. The sheriff’s deputies were part of a self-described “Goon Squad” of “officers who were known for using excessive force and not reporting it,” according to the DOJ.

“Those officers have since been convicted and sentenced, but we are launching this civil pattern or practice investigation to examine serious allegations that the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department systematically violates people’s constitutional rights through excessive use of force; unlawful stops, searches, and arrests; and discriminatory policing,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the statement announcing the probe.

Garland added that the allegations against the Rankin County Sheriff’s office include overusing tasers, entering homes unlawfully, using racial slurs, and utilizing “cruel tactics to assault people in their custody.”

In response to a request for comment, an attorney representing Sheriff Bryan Bailey and the RCSD referred ABC News to a statement posted on the RCSD’s Facebook page in response to the DOJ probe announcement.

“We have increased our agency’s transparency by placing our policies and procedures, in addition to our compliments and complaints portal on the Sheriff’s Department website,” the statement says. “We will continue this transparency and will fully cooperate with all aspects of this investigation, while also welcoming DOJ’s input into our updated policies and practices.”

Attorneys Shabazz and Trent Walker, who represent Parker and Jenkins, told ABC News in a joint statement that the DOJ probe into the RCSD is “a first, critical step in cleaning up the Sheriff’s Department and holding Rankin County legally accountable for the years of constitutional violations against its citizenry.”

“The torture and abuse of so many took place because, despite innumerable warnings, Rankin County and Sheriff Bailey belligerently refused to properly monitor and supervise this rogue and violent department,” Shabazz and Walker claimed in the statement.

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi said in a statement responding to the DOJ probe announcement that the information the DOJ has gathered regarding the behavior of some members of the RCSD “calls back to some of the worst periods of Mississippi’s history.”

“We do not have to accept the old hatreds and abuse of the past,” Gee said. “And we do not have to accept the false claim that safety comes at the price of illegal force and abuse of power.”

The Mississippi NAACP said in a statement posted to Facebook that the DOJ probe into the sheriff’s office “marks a significant step in addressing concerns raised by the community and advocates regarding potential misconduct within the department,” and that the NAACP “looks forward to Rankin County being held accountable for alleged acts against its population.”

The DOJ civil rights probe comes nearly six months after the federal sentencing in March of former RCSO deputies Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin and Daniel Opdyke, along with Joshua Hartfield, a former Richland, Mississippi police officer, to between 10 and 40 years in prison. The six men also pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from the incident and were sentenced in April to between 10 and 20 years in prison.

All six pleaded guilty to 16 felony charges related to the racially motivated torture and sexual assault of Jenkins and Parker, along with a third Rankin County man, in two unrelated incidents, according to a statement released by U.S. Department of Justice on Aug. 3, 2023. They also pleaded guilty to a subsequent plan to cover up their crimes.

News of the Jan. 24, 2023 incident and the subsequent convictions sparked a firestorm in Mississippi, including calls for Bailey’s resignation from numerous parties, including the Rankin County branch of the NAACP, which launched a petition calling for the sheriff to step down.

Following the sentencing of the former sheriff’s deputies in March, Bailey said in a statement obtained by ABC affiliate WAPT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi that “the safety and security of everyone in Rankin County is a primary concern for this department” and that his office cooperated with the initial DOJ probe into the torture of Jenkins and Parker.

“As the duly elected and acting Sheriff of Rankin County, I will remain committed to the betterment of this county and this sheriff’s department moving forward,” Bailey added.

Jenkins and Parker filed a $400 million federal lawsuit in July 2023 against the former law enforcement officers involved in this case. The lawsuit also names Sheriff Bailey, claiming he “failed to properly train, supervise, control, direct, monitor, and discipline Rankin County Sheriff’s Deputies.”

The former sheriff’s deputies and Bailey denied wrongdoing in an Oct. 2023 filing in response to the suit.

In July, Bailey asked U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III to dismiss him from the lawsuit, claiming he had “qualified immunity” — a doctrine that protects government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability for alleged constitutional violations. But in a July 24 ruling, the judge denied Bailey’s request.