Jackson, May 27 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of Mississippi, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit accusing the Madison County Sheriff’s Department of imposing a permanent state of siege against the county’s African-American residents.

The lawsuit says the sheriff’s department has maintained a series of roadblocks and checkpoints in majority-Black neighborhoods, where African-American residents are subjected to illegal searches.

The ACLU suit represents 10 Black residents in the county, including Quinnetta Manning, whose husband was attacked and beaten by sheriff’s department officers, and who says: "I am scared all the time that the sheriff’s department will hurt me or [my] family."