Ellington

This story has been updated.

As teenagers picked ripe squashes and tomatoes from the garden at Oakley Training School in Raymond yesterday, state officials championed the project as a symbol of progress since a 2003 federal investigation highlighted abuses and implorable conditions at the facility.

The training center houses approximately 65 juvenile offenders ages 10 to 17 who have committed three or more misdemeanor of felony crimes. The project is collaboration between a Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, Mississippi State Extension Services and the Hinds County Sheriff's Office. Last year, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce awarded a $17,300 grant to the Mississippi Attorney General's office to oversee the three-year project.

The project gives full ownership to students who cultivate the garden, grow vegetables and use the fresh produce to prepare their own healthy meals.

"They test the soil, and learn everything from planting, cultivating, harvesting and selling the produce. They are also learning entrepreneurial skills." Oakley Training School Director of Youth Services Kathy Pittman said.

In 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice conducted an investigation of Oakley and the now-closed Columbia Training School after a series of lawsuits alleging abuses that included staff forcing students to eat their own vomit and hog-tying them. The DOJ sued the state to correct the treatment of inmates and work with the Mississippi Department of Human Services to implement a plan of action.

Attorney General Jim Hood, who was at the press conference, said the Department of Justice has dismissed 51 of the 71 original allegations in the suit.

"We anticipated by next year, having all of them dismissed," Hood said.

Pittman said that the garden is just one of many steps Oakley has taken to improve conditions.

"The lawsuit gave us an incentive, but we knew that we needed to make changes. We have gotten a lot of support from other agencies to make the changes that we needed to make," Pittman said. "A lot the changes and services cost money--especially when its education, mental health and medical services. When a child is committed to our care, we are responsible for paying for all those services."

In 2008, representatives from the Mississippi Youth Justice Project called for the state to close Oakley and implement community-based programs instead. Youth Justice Project Staff Attorney Corrie Cockrell, however, applauded the facility's progress this afternoon.

"The state has made tremendous gains in ensuring that youth get rehabilitative services," Cockrell said. "By restricting the offenses for which youth can be sent to Oakley and increasing investments in community-based alternatives, the state has been able provide rehabilitative services to youth and there has been turn around at the facility as a result."