The case of six Mississippi deputies known as the 'Goon Squad' has opened a window onto longtime abuse in rural counties and the power of some sheriffs.
John Yang discussed more with Brian Howey of Mississippi Today.
to.pbs.org/3PSZtjp

Two women have reported to Hattiesburg police that counselor Wade Wicht sexually abused them during counseling sessions, but he may never face criminal charges because it’s not against the law in Mississippi for counselors to have sexual contact with their clients.

Wicht has

A Mississippi must-read by Sarah Fowler for The New York Times, who spent over a year digging into this:

I'm still reporting on Mississippi's practice of jailing hundreds of people without criminal charges every year, just because they may have a mental illness.

5 things we've learned so far, based on prior reporting for Mississippi Today & ProPublica:

mississippitoday.org/2024/01/04/mis…

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey says he learned at the knee of Lloyd 'Goon' Jones, who had a reputation for terrorizing the Black community.

The FBI concluded that Jones, left in the picture below, was the one who killed Ben Brown in 1967, just off the Jackson State

Dug into lawsuits against Mississippi sheriffs' offices this fall with Ilyssa Daly & Jerry Mitchell. We found claims of severe brutality, assault, rape and retaliation - all with no state investigation.

nytimes.com/2023/12/28/us/…

Allegations of brutality and abuse of power by Mississippi sheriffs' offices often go uninvestigated — because no one is tasked with looking into them.

A The New York Times and Mississippi Today investigation reveals how the state ignores, or is unaware of, the claims. nyti.ms/48fAU7b

Who Investigates the Sheriff? In Mississippi, Often No One. The state ignored or was unaware of allegations of jailhouse rape, brutal beatings & corrupt acts by sheriffs & deputies, even when there was ample evidence to examine. One sheriff urged deputies over the radio to catch

Mississippi has a long history of powerful rural sheriffs breaking the law with little consequence. Who investigates the sheriff? In Mississippi, often no one. mississippitoday.org/2023/12/28/who…

.The New York Times’ Ilyssa Daly describes a breakthrough moment in their reporting—discovering an apparently-lost post-conviction file that revealed a second instance of sex abuse by Clay County's sheriff.

Stream the #AtlanticSOOU panel on Mississippi's sheriffs: youtube.com/watch?v=4_Nr1Z…

ICYMI: More than 20 people say a group of Mississippi sheriff’s deputies tortured them for information during relatively minor drug arrests dating back to at least 2004. Please take care when reading this story.
mississippitoday.org/2023/11/30/ran…

“They kept tasing and tasing and tasing.” A band of sheriff’s deputies roamed poor neighborhoods in a Mississippi county for nearly two decades, barging into homes in the middle of the night and, witnesses say, torturing people for information.
nyti.ms/46AOPDb

Did Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey — already under FBI scrutiny for his department's 'Goon Squad,' which tortured two Black men and shot one of them — play a role in an ex-Capitol Police officer’s DUI acquittal? Authorities want to know.
mississippitoday.org/2023/11/21/did…

Speaking 4 pm Wed on Journalism as a Calling at Overby Center Ole Miss. Signing books after.

Speaking 7 pm Thu SMU at McCord Auditorium w/ Ilyssa Daly. Will chat about past stories & ones we're pursuing. Signing books.

Feel free to come by if you're around. #JournalismMatters

spent the last few months on a project that published today:

Gov. Tate Reeves’ top campaign contributors, since he took office in 2020, have netted $1.4 billion in state contracts or grants from agencies the governor directly oversees.

mississippitoday.org/2023/10/31/tat…

For this week’s Miami Herald: The 44 Percent newsletter, I wrote about heirs property ownership, Black history lessons in churches, the political resistance in Jacksonville and more.

amp.miamiherald.com/site-services/…

A Mississippi sheriff used the power of a grand jury at least 8 times over a year to spy on his married girlfriend and the school employee with whom she was also “unfaithful”

The attorney general, two judges and a future congressman all kept his secret

mississippitoday.org/2023/09/27/ran…

A Mississippi sheriff for months got secret subpoenas to spy on his girlfriend and a man she was reportedly seeing, potentially breaking the law, an investigation found. Officials knew of the allegations, but kept it secret — even as voters re-elected him. nyti.ms/3PVVsuA