Lawsuit: Children with disabilities in Tennessee custody subject to 'barbaric violence'

Three families have sued Tennessee and its Department of Children's Services (DCS), alleging unconstitutional mistreatment and "barbaric violence" faced by young people with disabilities in juvenile detention centers.

The sweeping 114-page lawsuit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, alleges multiple instances of children being subject to violent assaults from facility staff and other residents, including one instance of multiple staff allegedly pepper spraying a shackled boy who was then blocked from seeking medical care for 12 hours.

The plaintiffs also named Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds in the lawsuit, arguing state officials have failed to provide basic supports for youth in Tennessee custody such as education and mental and medical health care. The lawsuit alleges at least one child was held in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day and not allowed to attend school. Staff instead slid homework packets under his door, plaintiffs allege.

“All children deserve appropriate education and healthcare. All children deserve to feel safe,” Jasmine Miller, an attorney on the case from the Youth Law Center, said in a news release. “Across the country, we are seeing real progress in juvenile justice reform and how the most vulnerable youth are treated once they enter the system. Unfortunately, Tennessee is not progressing.”

The complaint alleges the defendants fail to screen youth in their custody for disabilities and provide accommodations or treatment, and instead punish the children for the symptoms of their disabilities, "using violent and abusive measures like solitary confinement, pepper spray, and peer-on-peer violence as behavior management tools."

Disability Rights Tennessee, a nonprofit legal services organization, is both a plaintiff in the lawsuit and part of the legal team suing the state. The children currently or formerly in DCS custody, who are identified by pseudonyms in the lawsuit, are seeking to make the lawsuit a class action on behalf of all young people with disabilities in or "at imminent risk" of being in DCS custody. A judge will have to decide whether to certify the class.

“The State should recognize disabilities and trauma in the youth they serve and address those disabilities instead of ignoring them. They should provide safe environments,” Jack Derryberry, Disability Rights Tennessee's legal director, said in the news release. “We have spent the last two years doing everything in our power to effect change in these systems, without success. At this point, we have no choice but to ask the Courts to step in to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

The Tennessee Attorney General's Office, which represents the state in lawsuits, did not respond to a request for comment sent shortly before noon Wednesday.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lawsuit: Disabled children in Tennessee custody subject to violence