Four Democrat Tennessee state legislators wrote to the Department of Children’s Services asking for information on security and monitoring in the state’s juvenile justice services.
The letter makes reference to a new WPLN and ProPublica research that revealed that Jason Crews, a merchant from Tennessee, frequently neglected to report abuse of children and other critical incidents to the condition as required. Interviews with dozens of former employees and junior were part of the investigating, as was a review of emergency phone logs, company records, and condition documents. All three of the country’s highest-security children prison are run by Crews and his business, Wayne Halfway House.
According to lawmakers,” the allegations that severe physical and sexual abuse, dangerous restraints, injuries, and other important incidents have gone undetected by WHH require an immediate, open, and independently verified response from the Department of Children’s Services.”
A spokeswoman for Wayne Halfway House said that the company” continues to meet or exceed performance standards set by Tennessee,” citing state assessments, after WPLN and ProPublica sent a copy of the letter to the business. Additionally, Wayne Halfway House claimed to have assisted more than 200 children in recent years in obtaining a high school diploma or relative.
The company said it adheres to state policy and law in contacted statements to WPLN and ProPublica about the prior reporting and “vehemently denies” that Crews or his company previously discouraged staff from reporting significant or lethal incidents to the state. It described previous employees as “untrustworthy resources” with a” clear bias” against the business and called their complaints” significantly flawed.”
Legislators are requesting answers to a number of issues brought up by this investigation, including what steps the office is taking to handle the allegations, how much money the state spends on placing children there, and who is being considered to operate the new adolescent facilities the office is building.
Legislators wrote that they would like to join with Department leadership to discuss these issues, examine the Department’s response, and determine the necessary legislative and administrative steps to prevent abuse from earliest becoming a news item.
DCS stated that it is looking into situations that were brought to light by the reporting in response to the news companies ‘ preliminary research. A request for comment on the email was never received by DCS.
The most recent investigation, according to lawmakers, comes in addition to a “long and deeply disturbing report of reports” on state-wide juvenile justice facilities. They made reference to earlier reports from WPLN and ProPublica that discovered a county-run East Tennessee juvenile detention facility was locking boys in solitary confinement in violation of state laws. The office promised to take action in response to the investigation’s findings in 2023, but Richard Bean, the facility’s director, later resigned.
After WPLN and ProPublica’s monitoring from East Tennessee, state senator Heidi Campbell, who signed onto the letter, even advocated for independent supervision of juvenile justice infrastructure in 2024. Campbell and others who were developing the bill claimed a lawyer for Wayne Halfway House had asked them to free privately operated facilities from oversight. The monitoring costs ultimately failed. Without giving a more in-depth analysis, a lawyer for Wayne Halfway House stated to the media that the business was concerned about granting regulatory authority to an outside organization at the time.
In addition, Tennessee plans to spend more than$ 400 million to construct more facilities, which raises questions for the state’s increased funding for juvenile justice. According to lawmakers, the cost of keeping 31 youth for a year at a Wayne Halfway House facility is almost the same as what it would cost the state to expand the state’s summertime grocery benefits to 700, 000 students.
We have serious concerns about repeated findings and allegations of lack of oversight, transparency, and accountability in these facilities, lawmakers wrote.” Given the amount of money Tennessee is already spending, and plans to invest, in juvenile justice and domestic facilities, we have serious concerns.”
ProPublica first published a post Tennessee lawmakers demand answers regarding safety in state youth prisons.
