An alternative to the John S. Wilder Youth Development Center in West Tennessee will be built. (Photo: Google Earth)

Tennessee plans to build a juvenile detention facility for pre-adjustment in West Tennessee, despite spending hundreds of millions of people rebuilding facilities for hundreds of millions of people while the state is plagued by lawsuits alleging abuse of young criminals.

Sen. Ed Jackson, a Republican Sen. Jackson, said Tuesday he was helping to build a detention center on the Madison County property, which is being purchased next to Jackson’s Criminal Justice Center. According to Jackson, the facility will cost between $45 million and $55 million, but some local governments are willing to tip.

Acting members requested research into state juvenile detention and treatment facilities this year to determine whether they deserve another center. The Tennessee Advisory Committee report on intergovernmental relations is expected to close for presentation to Congress in January 2026. However, the preliminary results appear to be clear.

“Not only Jesus, they know, but yes, this is definitely necessary in rural West Tennessee,” Jackson said.

Outside of Memphis, only 8 minors in Madison County awaiting a serious crime award in rural West Tennessee are available, and only two beds in Dyer County, the senator said.

Jackson explained the situation in which Tipton County law enforcement agencies had to hold a teenager charged with a gun-related crime at a local motel.

“Every sheriff and almost every juvenile judge in West Tennessee say we have to have a place,” Jackson said.

Young offenders cannot be housed within the hearing and vision of adult offenders in county jails or prisons.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson said Tuesday that the state’s emphasis on strengthening locked laws for minors is misplaced. Instead, she said Tennessee should raise the minimum wage to prevent teens from committing crimes, focus on mental health care, and take measures such as rehabilitation for people caught in trouble.

“I think the Tennessee legislature is creating criminals rather than hindering them. They just want to have a lot of them home. They’re abandoning them, not doing the right thing to them,” said Johnson, Democrat of Knoxville.

Restructuring youth detention

This week, the Executive Subcommittee of the State Building Board approved the use of construction managers/general contractors to design and set guaranteed prices for the construction of new Woodland Hills and John S. Wilder Youth Detention Centers in Nashville and Fayette County. The project is budgeted for a total of $333.3 million.

These projects are moving forward despite the state being caught up in a lawsuit filed in the Tennessee Disabled Case, alleging that states are warehoused with states, Department of Children’s Services, DCS committee members, Department of Education, Department of Education, and illegal, unconstitutional, and disabled children in prison-like facilities.

Rights for Persons with Disabilities According to Tennessee, approximately 600-650 young people live on juvenile justice custody of DCS, 1,200-1,400 per year, with an estimated 65% to 85% based on disability.

Tennessee does not operate juvenile facilities that are considered confined, instead contracting three private organizations in Tennessee and another in Texas for “hardware-secure” facilities.

The other 30 privately run facilities, like the Wilder Development Center, offer a lower level of security or are protected only by personnel.

A year ago, a lawsuit was conducted suicide by detailing a case of a young criminal being solitary incarcerated for several months. He also said the Richard L. Bean Center in Knoxville is using solitary confinement to punish young people.

The lawsuit violates the constitutional rights of children who violate the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services

The lawsuit describes multiple cases of a 17-year-old boy being beaten more than 31 times, a 15-year-old girl being tied up and dragged into solitary confinement across the floor, and the situation in which “a prize money” elicited an attack after guilty of or sue the staff for conditions. The filing says the packaged noodles were used to reward other young people beating.

The Executive Subcommittee of the State Construction Committee approved the state’s construction plan this week without discussing the Woodland Hills and the Wilder facility.

Asked if he was concerned about lawsuit filing as the state is spending heavily on the new facility, Jason Mampoier said, “We want to make things right, both for the people and the people in it.”

Erin’s Republican Rep. Jay Reedy sponsored a bill ordering an investigation into the state’s juvenile facilities after demanding more space from the city of Germantown for juvenile offenders in their area. City officials described the issue of “overwhelming capacity issues” at the West Tennessee Detention Center and raised concerns about juvenile offenders returning to the “community environment” without the necessary rehabilitation or treatment.

The Senate-sponsored by Shelby County Republican Sen. Brent Taylor, a Leedy bill, directs the committee to study facilities found juvenile offenders to be delinquent and placed under the control of the Department of Children’s Services, or custody in juvenile court while awaiting a hearing.