Editing Lauderdale County, Mississippi (section)

==Government and infrastructure==
The [[East Mississippi Correctional Facility]] is located in an [[unincorporated area]] of the county, near [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]]. Intended to provide intensive treatment for up to 1500 state prisoners who are mentally ill, it has been operated since 2012 by [[Management and Training Corporation]] under contract to the [[Mississippi Department of Corrections]]. In 2013 the [[ACLU]] and [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] filed a class-action suit against the state and MTC for poor conditions at the facility.<ref name="EMCFsuit">Gabriel Eber (May 30, 2013). [https://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-prisoners-rights/new-lawsuit-massive-human-rights-violations-mississippi-prison "NEW LAWSUIT: Massive Human Rights Violations at Mississippi Prison"], ACLU. Retrieved December 3, 2014.</ref> The court granted the plaintiffs class certification in 2015, allowing the case to proceed.<ref name="dockery">[https://www.aclu.org/cases/prisoners-rights/dockery-v-epps ''Dockery v. Epps''], updated September 2015, Cases: Prisoners' Rights, ACLU official website; accessed March 7, 2017</ref> The former for-profit contractor, [[GEO Group]],<ref name="Profile">"[http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/Five%20Private%20Prisons.htm Private Prisons] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013053002/http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/Five%20Private%20Prisons.htm |date=2012-10-13 }}," [[Mississippi Department of Corrections]]. Retrieved on November 19, 2010.</ref> was forced out of its contracts for this and two other state facilities in 2012 as a result of settlement of a class-action suit for its poor management of the [[Walnut Grove Correctional Facility|Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility]].<ref name="goode">{{Cite news
| last = Goode
| first = Erica
| title = Seeing Squalor and Unconcern in a Mississippi Jail
| work = [[New York Times]]
| access-date = January 8, 2015
| date = June 7, 2014
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/us/seeing-squalor-and-unconcern-in-southern-jail.html?_r=0
}}</ref>