The Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the sheriff’s department in Mississippi’s Rankin County after several of its deputies – including some who were in a self-styled “Goon Squad” – abused and tortured two Black men in a racially charged home raid last year.

"Put simply, the concerns about the Rankin County Sheriff's Department did not end with the demise of the Goon Squad."

The Justice Department will determine if allegations of widespread violence and improper searches amount to a pattern of discrimination in the department.

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday launched a civil rights probe into the Rankin County Sheriff's Department in Mississippi after several of its former officers known as the "Goon Squad" were prosecuted for torturing and sexually abusing two Black men.

Nearly two years after Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker survived hours of a sadistic torture plot conjured up by six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers, the U.S. Justice Department has launched a pattern or practice investigation into Rankin County,

Put simply, the concerns about the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department did not end with the demise of the Goon Squad.”

The DOJ has received information about other troubling incidents, including deputies overusing stun guns and entering homes unlawfully.