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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A new five-member board will give a juvenile detention center in Rutherford County greater accountability that’s long overdue. The center that has illegally jailed children for years will no longer be overseen by the county’s juvenile court judge, a change that the county’s mayor says will bring “more oversight or transparency.”
The board members will be appointed by Rutherford County commissioners and will oversee the detention center’s policies, procedures and budget.
In 2016, Judge Donna Scott Davenport charged 11 elementary school children with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another” for watching a scuffle between three other children. Such a crime does not exist in Tennessee law. A class-action lawsuit against the county ended in a combined payout of $6 million to the plaintiffs last June.
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At the beginning of the year, a group of state lawmakers sought to remove Judge Donna Scott Davenport in Rutherford County who oversaw illegal detentions of minors for at least 10 years. Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville-District 20) stated that Davenport, who has since announced her retirement, had a record of incarcerating 48% of juveniles who appeared before her, far more than the 5% statewide average.
ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio called attention to the abuses of the Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system last year which prompted Governor Bill Lee to call for a review of Davenport. His office released a statement that read, “We are concerned about the recent reports and believe the appropriate judicial authorities should issue a full review.”
The new board will also oversee Lynn Duke, director of the detention center since 2001, who was appointed to her job by Davenport. Duke appears before county commissioners every month but has rarely been asked questions about policies at the detention center. County commissioners have joked about the center, likening it to a hotel, and one commissioner even opined that they would like to see the jail become a “profit center” instead of a “cost center.”
On her website, Attorney Connie Reguli reports that child welfare federal funding through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act gives money to states to pay for children in foster care, youth facilities or detention centers. Reguli, an activist for reform within the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) for over a decade, said that the state already profits off the incarceration of children. “They are monetizing children,” she said in a phone interview with The Tennessee Conservative in April.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
