A Rankin County, Mississippi Sheriff is dealing with scrutiny after a joint investigation discovered that inmates from the county jail had been used to carry out labor on his household’s farm, generally below his direct supervision whereas utilizing public assets.
McLain Farms, a 38-acre property in Puckett, Mississippi, has housed roughly 10,000 chickens yearly for Tyson Meals. In a New York Occasions and Mississippi Right this moment investigation, the land is owned by Sheriff Bryan Bailey’s household. Inmates with particular privileges, generally known as trusties, had been reportedly despatched to the farm to finish handbook labor, together with cleansing hen homes, repairing autos, spraying weeds, and performing building duties.
For this text, the shops spoke with 20 former inmates and reviewed greater than 1,000 pages of county monetary data.
In line with the experiences made by the New York Occasions and Mississippi Right this moment, a number of former trusties and former deputy Christian Dedmon—one in every of 5 former officers who pleaded responsible to federal civil rights prices in 2023—stated Bailey directed or participated in transporting inmates to the farm. Dedmon informed reporters he labored on the property whereas on obligation and used gear bought with taxpayer funds.
“I hid every part for him. I achieved every part for him,” Dedmon stated. “I do know now I used to be only a instrument for use throughout a sure time like everybody else.”
Dedmon additionally stated he used a $97,000 skid steer, initially bought by the sheriff’s division in 2019 for search and rescue efforts, to until soil and clear land on the farm. He claimed that county-purchased objects, together with weed killer, brooder lamps, and poultry provides, had been additionally used there.
Images shared by Dedmon’s ex-wife present trusties working in civilian clothes on private tasks, corresponding to constructing a deck at Dedmon’s house in 2020. A number of people within the picture had been recognized as trusties who had been incarcerated on the time.
Mississippi regulation prohibits public officers from utilizing authorities assets for private achieve, and the Occasions experiences that violations of this regulation could end in fines or jail time. The Mississippi Code of Ethics additionally bars elected officers from utilizing their place for the good thing about themselves or companies related to their family members.
Regardless of these restrictions, the report particulars how Bailey allegedly used a county dump trailer and disguised county autos by inserting magnets over official logos. Dedmon stated the sheriff had magnets made for a fictitious enterprise identify, “Cazell’s Welding,” to hide the automobile’s affiliation with the sheriff’s workplace.
Since 2018, county data present that greater than $50,000 has been spent on attachments for the skid steer, and almost $10,000 has been used for weed killer. Further purchases included poultry netting and different objects generally utilized in hen farming.
Within the New York Occasions, Bailey declined to remark by means of the division’s legal professional, Jason Dare, who acknowledged that the workplace would not reply to questions from the reporting shops.
Trusty Program Raises Moral and Authorized Crimson Flags
Most of the trusties interviewed praised this system total however stated they felt pressured to adjust to requests to work on the farm. Trusties in Rankin County conform to forgo fee for his or her duties in change for lighter sentencing and particular privileges throughout the jail.
“The best way the sheriff’s trusty program is, you’re his property,” one former inmate informed Mississippi Right this moment.
The U.S. Division of Justice is already investigating Rankin County after 5 deputies, together with Dedmon, had been charged in 2023 with torturing two Black males of their house. These prices adopted allegations that some members of the sheriff’s division had carried out violent acts towards civilians over a interval of almost 20 years.
Angela English, president of the Rankin County chapter of the NAACP, stated the most recent revelations increase new considerations about abuse of energy.
“Once you present somebody with that a lot authority they usually don’t should reply to anybody,” English stated to the New York Occasions, “you’re asking for hassle.”
The Mississippi State Auditor’s Workplace has launched a proper investigation into whether or not public funds or inmate labor had been improperly used for private profit.
