Arrested Development

Under Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department is backing away from investigating crooked police— and not just in big cities.

- Nathalie Baptiste

COPS WERE VIOLATING THE rights of the residents of Ville Platte, Louisiana, as far back as anyone can remember. Arthur Sampson Jr. grew up in this rural community, roughly 80 miles west of Baton Rouge. Sampson, a calm 54-year-old African American man with a big laugh, recalls his own run-in with the police more than three decades ago, when he was a small-time drug dealer. “I remember selling a guy two bags of weed from my cousin’s house,” he says as he sits in his living room. “Turns out the guy I sold it to was undercover.”

Sampson was arrested for possession and sent to the Ville Platte city jail, where he stayed for six and a half days before being charged and brought before a judge. “That’s how far back this stuff goes,” he says with an incredulous laugh. Many residents of Ville Platte tell similar stories: Local police officers would arrest people without probable cause, often keeping them behind bars for days without charge in what were referred to as “investigative holds.” Many were not permitted to make phone calls or even shower, and throughout their stay in jail they were pressured to report on the alleged criminal activities of others.