Two families are suing Gov. Bill Lee and the Williamson County School District, saying their middle school-aged children were arrested, strip-searched, put in solitary confinement, sent to alternative school and then subjected to months of home visits by social workers and probation officers after school officials misinterpreted conversations between peers as "threats of mass violence."
(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
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.
Though Tennessee says the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center is improving, new reporting suggests that though the facility claims its use of seclusion is voluntary, the kids don’t see it that way.