The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) has been sued by an activism group that supports disabled people, claiming that DCS has neglected and mistreated vulnerable disabled children.
“When Youth enter Defendants’ facilities, they struggle to find the basic support that every child needs and deserves, such as education, mental healthcare, medical care, and physical safety,” a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Tennessee says. “Defendants fail to provide evidence-based services designed to treat or rehabilitate Youth. Indeed, Defendants lack any coherent strategy for rehabilitating young people in their care or addressing behavioral issues, instead defaulting to incarceration. Youth therefore have no meaningful way to progress in their treatment and rehabilitation.”
The State of Tennessee, DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, and Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education Lizzette Reynolds are also listed as defendants in the suit filed by Sanford Heisler Sharp and the Youth Law Center on behalf of Disability Rights Tennessee.
“The Defendants in this case have clear legal mandates to rehabilitate and care for youth in the juvenile justice system. Instead, the Plaintiffs allege that they subject young people to pervasive violence, abuse, and neglect,” said Jonathan Tepe, a partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp. “Sanford Heisler Sharp is honored to work with Disability Rights Tennessee and the Youth Law Center to hold the Defendants accountable and ensure that the rights of youth are respected.”
In a press release, Disability Rights Tennessee described several key points in the lawsuit.
“The complaint alleges that the State of Tennessee, among other Defendants, warehouses children with disabilities in prison-like facilities and subjects them to violence and abuse,” the release says. “The complaint details routine use of solitary confinement, pepper spray, and physical assaults on youth with disabilities. The complaint also accuses staff members of beating children and bribing youth to attack one another. According to the complaint, the Defendants resort to such abuses instead of providing evidenced-based assessment, education, healthcare, and other rehabilitative services.”
The group further alleges that DCS keeps disabled children out of school for periods of weeks and, when they are in school, fails to provide “even the bare minimum four hours of daily instruction required under state regulations.”
It also lists allegations made by several John Doe plaintiffs who have been held in DCS custody.
“John Doe 1, a 17- year-old, was beaten over thirty-times while in custody and suffered black eyes, bruised jaws and ribs, and ruptured blood vessels in his eyes,” according to the release. “John Doe 2, a 12-year-old-boy who was shipped between at least five different facilities in two years, experienced worsening mental health issues in Defendants’ custody and began hearing “a scary voice in his head telling him to do things.”
The organization accuses DCS of shackling and dragging across the floor another plaintiff, Jane Doe 1, before placing her in solitary confinement and later pepper spraying her while she was naked in her cell.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
