Suwannee County, FL- Officials with the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center were in Suwannee County last night, speaking to parents about what is perceived to be a ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline.

According to David Utter with the SPLC, the county has a graduation rate of less than 60 percent, and one of the worst arrest rates in Florida. The state arrest rate is 10 per 1,000 students, whereas Suwannee County is more than double that at 24 per thousand students.

Suwannee County Sheriff Tony Cameron was also on hand and addressed those alarming statistics.

“There’s a thing called a notice to appear and if you file that notice to appear on a child, that child doesn’t go to a jail. The child goes before a judge, the county judge and he can give him a judicial warning, he can give him some community hours, but that child still has no criminal record,” Cameron said.

Suwannee School superintendent Jerry Scarborough declined to comment or speak at last night’s gathering due to pending litigation with the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Read more from WCTV here.