Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ case highlights abuse in rural areas and power of sheriffs

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• Amna Nawaz:

  In Mississippi, two more police officers were given lengthy sentences today for their role in a series of brutal attacks, including against two Black men.

  They're part of a group of former officers who are being sentenced this week, after pleading guilty to horrifying charges that include torture and sexual assault.

  John Yang has more.

• John Yang:

  Amna, a federal judge in Mississippi has just handed down the harshest sentence yet in a startling case of law enforcement misconduct, 40 years in prison for the fourth former deputy in the self-proclaimed Goon Squad in the Rankin County, Mississippi, Sheriff's Department.

  A total of six former deputies have pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors say that, for nearly two decades, they barged into homes in the middle of the night, handcuffing and torturing occupants for information or confessions. The current charges stem from a January 2023 home invasion of the residents of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker.

  The officers repeatedly shocked them with Tasers, sexually assaulted them with a sex toy and shot Jenkins in the face, nearly killing him.

  Parker spoke to reporters after one of the sentencing hearings.

  Eddie Parker, Victim of Rankin County, Mississippi, Police: What's done already, man, can't be erased, man, can't be taken back. I relive this every day.

• John Yang:

  The years of brutal misconduct was documented by an investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship.

  Brian Howey is an investigative reporter at Mississippi Today. He was part of this reporting team.

  Brian, the sort of severity of this behavior and the fact that it went on so long really is eye-grabbing, sort of very startling. Tell us how this self-proclaimed Goon Squad came about. How did it get started? How big was it? How did they pick the people they targeted?

  Brian Howey , Mississippi Today: Thanks, John.

  Well, it's unclear how the Goon Squad was actually started, but we do know that this pattern of behavior involved a core group of deputies stretching back nearly 20 years. They chose their targets based on these people's alleged crimes. They mainly went after folks that they suspected of dealing or possessing methamphetamine or other drugs.

  Then, after they found them, they would burst into their homes or pull them over while they were driving and begin these brutal interrogations that often involved anywhere from repeated Tasings, to water-boarding, to burning, you name it.

• John Yang:

  I mean, this has been going on for some time, say, two decades.

  How many other cases are there out there, do you think?

• Brian Howey :

  Well, we don't know how many cases there are out there, but we interviewed over 50 people who claimed they experienced or witnessed torture at the hands of Rankin County deputies.

  Of those, we were able to corroborate 17 torture incidents involving 20 victims dating back 18 years.

• John Yang:

  The sheriff is resisting calling — calls to resign. How high up did knowledge about this go, how senior supervisors were aware of this?

• Brian Howey :

  You're right, John. The sheriff has resisted calls to resign and has claimed numerous times that he had no knowledge of his deputies' actions.

  But what we found were that some of the highest-ranking deputies at the sheriff's department were involved and actively partaking in these torture incidents. And we spoke to multiple people who claimed they were tortured by deputies who said that they filed complaints with the department, which should have gone to the sheriff, and, in some cases, even reached out directly to him to notify him of his deputies' actions.

• John Yang:

  What does this say about the culture of the department?

• Brian Howey :

  Well, it says that there is potentially a deeply ingrained culture of violent misconduct at the Rankin County Sheriff's Department.

  This culture has actually been referenced several times in the sentencing hearings this week by some of the deputies themselves, who themselves acknowledged that they were indoctrinated into this culture and became a part of it as they went on at the sheriff's department.

• John Yang:

  This — Rankin County is majority white. It sits right next to Jackson, which has one of the highest percentages of Black population of any good-sized city in America.

  To what extent is there a racial dimension to this?

• Brian Howey :

  We found that the majority of the alleged victims who were tortured by Goon Squad members were actually white, and we think that that's because we are looking at a majority white county.

  However, when people of color came forward and said that they were tortured, there was often a racial aspect to the torture. They were called racial slurs. They were told to go back to Jackson, which is a common phrase, referring to Jackson and how many people at the department and in Rankin County see the city as a source of crime and corruption.

• John Yang:

  Do you think this is going on in other counties in Mississippi?

• Brian Howey :

  It's hard to say.

  We do know that, across Mississippi, sheriff's departments have very little to no oversight. Our team, Ilyssa Daly and Jerry Mitchell, have uncovered other accusations of sexual assault by sheriffs at different departments. And so it's clear here that we have an issue of accountability with sheriffs generally in Mississippi.

• John Yang:

  You said this has been going on for two decades. Complaints went to the sheriff's department, to no avail.

  How did this escape the notice of statewide officials, of federal officials?

• Brian Howey :

  That's a great, great question, John. I'd love to know that myself.

  We do know that a state investigation into the incident involving Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker is sort of what initiated all of this in the first place. But, as far as we know, so far, state and federal officials only recently became aware of the conduct at the Rankin County Sheriff's Department.

• John Yang:

  And the trials that have been going on. The sentencing has all been in federal court. Are any local county officials, the county prosecutor looking into this?

• Brian Howey :

  Yes. All of the deputies who faced sentencing in federal court this week will also face another round state sentencing in the coming weeks.

• John Yang:

  Brian Howey of Mississippi Today, thank you very much.

• Brian Howey :

  Thanks, John. I appreciate it.