(This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with WPLN/Nashville Public Radio. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.) A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to […] The post Despite outcry at juvenile detention centers, Tennessee lawmakers fail to pass oversight bill appeared fir
A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to be locking children alone in cells.
The legislation, sponsored by two prominent Republicans, had backing from the Department of Children’s Services and would have cost the state nothing. Child welfare advocates are baffled as to why it failed.
An investigation from ProPublica shows that one Knoxville-area facility is putting kids in solitary but skirting scrutiny by classifying the seclusion as "voluntary."