A Tennessee youth detention center has been skirting a state law prohibiting solitary confinement for minors by classifying solitary lockups as "voluntary"—even when youth have said they spent days locked alone in a cell.
An investigation from ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio published last month found that the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center, a youth lockup near Knoxville, was violating a 2021 Tennessee law that banned solitary confinement for minors.
