We are suing the state of Tennessee
Dear Friends of the Youth Law Center,
In late June, we, along with Disability Rights Tennessee (DRT) and the law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee challenging illegal and unconstitutional conditions in its facilities housing children in the state’s juvenile justice system. While Youth Law Center has been using the law as a tool since 1978 to fight for the rights of children and youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems across the country, filing a lawsuit is always our last recourse, and I want to explain to you why we decided to take that course of action in Tennessee.
In 2021, we formed a partnership with DRT to launch an advocacy and media campaign addressing abuse, neglect and violence disproportionately inflicted on Black children impacted by the juvenile justice system in Tennessee. DRT is part of the national Protection & Advocacy (P&A) System — a network of 57 federally mandated legal advocacy agencies serving people with disabilities. Serving as the P&A agency for Tennessee since 1975, DRT has broad authority to advocate for the rights of individuals with disabilities in this state, to monitor certain facilities, including facilities used to house children and youth impacted by the juvenile justice system, and to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect. DRT has the authority to pursue legal, administrative, and other appropriate remedies to ensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
With DRT we have focused on advocacy to transform Tennessee’s broken juvenile justice system – addressing, for example, rampant neglect and physical, mental, and sexual abuse in custodial settings, delays in accessing medical treatment; and violations of federal disability laws inflicted disproportionately on Black children with disabilities; aiming to end youth transfers to adult court and adult jail and the dangerous use of solitary confinement for youth; and addressing a failure of state and local agencies to invest in the supports and services children need to become healthy and productive adults. We have concluded the juvenile justice system in Tennessee is opaque and unaccountable, and we do not believe Tennessee will end its unlawful practices unless legally compelled to do so.
Our complaint alleges that the State of Tennessee, among other Defendants, warehouses children with disabilities in prison-like facilities and subjects them to violence and abuse. The complaint details routine use of solitary confinement, pepper spray, and physical assaults on youth with disabilities. The complaint also accuses staff members of assaults on children in their custody and bribing youth to attack one another.
According to the complaint, the Defendants resort to such abuses instead of providing evidenced-based assessment, education, healthcare, and other rehabilitative services. According to the complaint, children with disabilities are over-represented in Tennessee’s juvenile justice system. Nationwide, between sixty-five and eighty-five percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have disabilities. Yet, the complaint says, Defendants fail to screen youth in their custody for disabilities, provide reasonable accommodations, or offer appropriate treatment, and instead punish youth for their disabilities.
These systemic abuses have exacted an acute toll on the individual plaintiffs. John Doe 1, a 17-year-old, was beaten over thirty-times while in custody and suffered black eyes, bruised jaws and ribs, and ruptured blood vessels in his eyes. John Doe 2, a 12-year-old-boy who was shipped between at least five different facilities in two years, experienced worsening mental health issues in Defendants’ custody and began hearing “a scary voice in his head telling him to do things.” Jane Doe 1, a 15-year-old, was shackled and dragged across the floor by facility staff, placed in solitary confinement, and on another occasion, pepper sprayed by staff while she was naked in her cell.
We believe Tennessee must be held accountable for these practices, and the ultimate goal of our lawsuit is to ensure all children and youth impacted by Tennessee’s juvenile justice system are free from abusive conditions that cause lasting harm and that those children and youth have access to the services and supports they need to become thriving members of their communities.
We will share updates on the progress of the lawsuit on our website, https://www.ylc.org/tennessee, and with dedicated communications when significant milestones occur.
In the meantime, thank you for supporting us as partners and allies as we provide hope and opportunity for young people across the country who often feel hopeless.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Rodriguez
Executive Director