Sometime before May of 1980, detained juveniles filed a lawsuit against Wilson County, Tennessee in the Chancery Court for Wilson County concerning the detention of juveniles in the Wilson County jail. Legal Services of Middle Tennessee represented the plaintiffs. On May 16, 1980, the court (Judge Edward M. Turner) entered a partial consent decree agreed to by the parties.

The parties agreed that defendants would not allow any juvenile to be placed in detention in Wilson County Jail without authorization from the Juvenile Court. The parties further agreed that prior to a detention hearing, defendants would not detain a juvenile in the jail unless the public safety and protection reasonably required detention and the juvenile was either likely to flee, had no parent or guardian to provide supervision, or had been charged with committing an unruly act that made the juvenile an immediate danger to himself or others. Further, defendants agreed to not confine juveniles in the jail for longer than seventy-two hours unless the Juvenile Court found there was probable cause that the juvenile committed the alleged offense. We have no further information on this case other than the partial consent decree.

Emilee Baker - 05/23/2006


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