Mississippi Sheriff Behind ‘Goon Squad’ That Tortured Black Men Exposed for Allegedly Using Inmates for Labor on His Family Farm
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White confirmed Friday that he has opened an investigation into allegations that Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey used his position to enrich himself and his family during most of his 13-year tenure.
The announcement came one day after Mississippi Today and The New York Times published allegations by four former inmates and a former deputy that Bailey had for years supplemented his family farm’s workforce with trusted jail inmates and used taxpayer-purchased equipment and resources to tend to his property.
“We’re all aware of the reporting,” said Jacob Walters, communications director for the state auditor. “We read the article, and Auditor White ordered an investigation to begin yesterday morning when we became aware of the story.”
White has alerted federal prosecutors of the allegations, Walters said.
Bailey was already under pressure to resign after five of his deputies, dubbed the “Goon Squad,” pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges after it was revealed they tortured two Black men in their home, shooting one in the mouth. A subsequent investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today found that those deputies had employed similar brutal tactics for nearly two decades against those they suspected of using or dealing drugs.
Bailey denied knowledge of the abuses, but local civil rights leaders weren’t buying it.
“You’ve been knowing these men almost a lifetime … and you didn’t know that they were capable of this, that in of itself is a lie,” said Angela English, president of Rankin County’s NAACP chapter.
A “Goon Squad” member, Christian Dedmon, was a major source in Mississippi Today’s report. Dedmon corroborated claims from former inmates at the Rankin County jail that they had been working on a poultry farm belonging to Bailey’s mother.
Reporters for Mississippi Today interviewed several former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies and 20 former inmates, known as “trustees,” during its six-month investigation. The inmates who said they had worked on the farm were not named because they feared retribution. The reporters also reviewed more than a thousand pages of county financial documents, as well as text messages Dedmon sent while working on the farm.
Dedmon also told the paper a skid steer with accessories valued at $150,000, purchased by the sheriff’s department, was also used on the Bailey farm. And he alleged the sheriff stole gravel from a county facility.
“I hid everything for him,” Dedmon said of Bailey. “I done everything for him.”
“I know now I was just a tool to be used during a certain time like everyone else,” he said.
Bailey attacked the report, calling it “a poorly researched work of fiction.” He deferred all other questions to his attorney, Jason Dare.
In a statement, Dare denied most of the allegations in the Mississippi Today article but acknowledged that “trustees” worked at Bailey’s family farm, where they were paid in accordance with state law.
“Regardless of which governmental or private entity a Trustee works for, they are paid pursuant to statute and keep wages earned by them according to statute,” Dare wrote. “Despite being authorized by statute to keep 15% of all wages earned by Trustees as an administrative fee, the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department keeps none of their money and allows them to use or save that additional money in their own private bank accounts.”
Dare’s statement avoided other accusations from the investigation, including an allegation that Bailey and others used a $97,000 construction vehicle bought in 2019 with department funds to clear land on his farm.
Mississippi law prohibits the use of public money or property by elected officials for their own use. Violations are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The state’s Code of Ethics in Government prohibits public officials from using their positions to profit any businesses with which they or any relatives are associated.
