Appeals court halts federal takeover of Mississippi jail

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s largest county has won a legal victory in its effort to stave off a rare federal takeover of a jail. A judge has found “ongoing unconstitutional conditions” for prisoners there. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday stayed a lower court’s order putting the Raymond Detention Center in Jackson into receivership, until it rules on the county’s motion for reconsideration. A receiver appointed by a federal judge had been scheduled to assume operational control over the jail on the first day of 2023. The appeals court sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.