TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on May 29, 2025

Knox County Mayor Glen Jacobs today called for "immediate state intervention" at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center, requesting that Gov. Bill Lee shift control of the center's operations from the current board of trustees to the Department of Children's Services (DCS). Jacobs says that move will protect the center while more permanent arrangements can be made for the Knox County Sherriff's Office to take control. Knox News reports that issues surfaced this week after the center fired its sole registered nurse and an information technology specialist under what Jacobs and Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin called "questionable circumstances." In a letter to the center, Jacobs and Irwin demanded the two employees be reinstated. The nurse, Stephanie Clowers, told the paper she had been documenting errors in medication distribution and poor practices, including one instance when a juvenile lost consciousness after ingesting another's medication. No one at the facility took his vitals, called poison control or summoned an ambulance, she stated. An investigation by ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio in 2023 found that the center had been using seclusion as a punishment for years, rather than as a last resort as the law requires.