The city of Jackson and Hinds County will be the beneficiaries of aid from the federal government to have officials thoroughly trained to notify immediate family members of a death in the area.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will provide technical assistance to the Jackson Police Department and the Hinds County Coroner’s Office concerning their policies and procedures related to next-of-kin death notifications.
The federal assistance comes after the families of three individuals buried in pauper’s graves behind the Raymond Detention Center demanded answers after not hearing from city or county leaders of their family members passing — a story that caught the eyes of audiences nationally.
A report from NBC News confirmed that 215 people had been buried in unmarked graves in a pauper’s field in Hinds County in the past eight years. The lack of timely next-of-kin death notifications resulted in multiple people being placed in those graves when family members could have given them a proper burial, the DOJ found.
“Families want and deserve transparency and the opportunity to make decisions about their loved ones’ burials,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “Through technical assistance, we aim to ensure that officials are able to deliver death notifications and make decisions regarding burials in a timely and trauma-informed way that complies with federal civil rights law.”
The technical assistance, which will be provided by the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, will examine JPD’s general order on missing persons and new general order on death notifications and provide recommendations on implementation and training. The technical assistance to the Hinds County Coroner’s Office will provide recommendations on policies and training related to locating next-of-kin.
“The department looks forward to working with city and county officials to improve the death notification system in the Jackson area so that the families of missing and deceased persons can receive all the information available about their loved ones,” U.S. Attorney Todd Gee for the Southern District of Mississippi said.
The DOJ did clarify that the provision of technical assistance is not a finding of fault or wrongdoing by JPD, the Hinds County Coroner’s Office, or any other individual or entity. JPD and the Hinds County Coroner’s Office voluntarily agreed to receive technical assistance and support from the department.
