Mother files $150,000 lawsuit against Mississippi school after daughter is put in closet as punishment

Jet, March 4, 1996

A mother recently filed a $150,000 lawsuit against a school in Columbus, MS, because her daughter was locked in a dark, storage supply closet by the principal.

Rosie Jan Rice filed the lawsuit against Fairview Elementary School in the Columbus School District. Rice told JET she was "shocked and hurt" when she actually witnessed her daughter, LaTonya, 9, coming out of a dark, storage supply closet located in the principal's office. Her daughter, who was then 8 years old and in third grade when the incident occurred at the beginning of last year, had been in the closet for more than an hour, according to Rice.

The mother continued by saying, "If I didn't ask for a piece of paper and pen from the secretary and she had to go to that closet, there's no telling how much longer my daughter would have been in there." Rice also noted the closet was locked because the secretary had to get the key before she could gain entrance.

A database operator in the Columbus School District, Rice said she was told that her daughter was talking in class and was taken to the Principal's office when she continued to do so. While there, the principal detained LaTonya by placing a chair in the closet forcing her to sit in darkness.

"Even prisoners have bars to look out of. She shouldn't have been locked up," said Rice who added that she removed her daughter from the school immediately following the incident.