HINDS COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Hinds County has six months until the county is hit with a $500 per day charge.

The county has failed to bring the Hinds County Courthouse into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On the seventh month, the fine will go up to $750 per month.

Scott Crawford, a human rights activist in disability rights, said the courthouse needed a unisex accessible bathroom on the first floor by April 2023, which was required by the consent decree that was issued in October 2021.

Crawford said Hinds County had no explanation for its failure to comply with the requirements.

“Long story short, we went to trial. We lost. We had to go to the Fifth Circuit. We won in the Fifth Circuit. And in, oh, 2021, we got a consent decree, an agreement that they had a year and a half to bring some of the courthouse into compliance. And that deadline was April 20, and they completely failed to do it this year,” said Crawford.

Hinds County Administrator Kenny Wayne Jones said they have contracted and been in communication with a professional architecture firm and plans to fix these problems with in the next six months.