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.

Attorneys Trent Walker and Malik Shabazz, with Black Lawyers for Justice, spoke to reporters on Monday in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation. They said they are pleased with this first step that they said is necessary to hold the department accountable.

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."

Last year, two Black men were beaten and tasered by six officers in a no-warrant house raid. Since then, the Justice Department said it got more complaints regarding similar instances by the deputies.

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