On January 23, 1969, African-American juveniles brought a class action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, challenging the conditions of confinement at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. Plaintiffs alleged equal protection and due process violations and sought declaratory and injunctive relief. The U.S. Department of Justice [DOJ] intervened in the action as a party plaintiff on November 11, 1969.

Following discovery, the parties resolved the case by way of a Consent Decree. The Decree, entered July 23, 1971 by District Judge Johnson, called for the Alabama Industrial School (formerly known as the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children) was ordered to accept male juvenile delinquents between the ages of I5 and 18, without regard to race. The Decree also called for reforms in the areas of education and rehabilitation, vocational programs, staffing levels and qualifications, corporal punishment, discipline and medical and health care. It also set maximum capacity levels.

The District Court ordered the file administratively closed on October 5, 1972.

On December 6, 1975, defendants filed a motion to modify the Court's decree of July 23, 1971. By order of the District Court dated January 6, 1976, the 1971 Decree was modified, so as to allow defendants to place committed students in training schools on the basis of need and not restrict such placements to sex and age.

We have no further information on this case.

Dan Dalton - 02/26/2007


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