The American Civil Liberties Union have filed a suit against the Madison County, Mississippi Sheriff’s department on Monday. The suit claims that the police have been systematically targeted black residents and have been subjecting them to searches and brutality that are unconstitutional.

The Grio Reported:

This has left the community “under a permanent state of siege,” according to the lawsuit, which accuses the department of abusing its power in order to continue a system of oppression and segregation in the richest county in Mississippi.

“For Black residents, Madison County is a Constitution-free zone where their right to equal protection under the law and against unreasonable searches and seizures is nonexistent,” Jennifer Riley-Collins, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said in a statement.

38% of Madison County’s population is Black. 73% of Sheriff’s Dept arrests were of Black people.

Racial profiling is wrong. So we’re suing. pic.twitter.com/kg9Yp1Hvwt
— ACLU of Mississippi (@ACLU_MS) May 8, 2017

Read more here on The Grio.