"And how are the children?”
Tennesseans who care will find the answer in ongoing reports of physical and sexual violence in facilities where the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) places young people. The cries of young people in DCS custodyecho in their cells and in our communities, demanding action that accounts for past, and prevents future, harm. But the state is pouring almost half a billion dollars into building more youth prisons and other facilities that confine youth and hide harm.
As leaders of Nashville based nonprofits working directly with young people and communities impacted by violence, we believe DCS’s Youth Prison Planis a distraction from DCS’s problems – but investing in robust family support to prevent incarceration of youth
is a solution.
DCS’s Youth Prison Plan should give the state pause. A recent ProPublica/WPLN investigationexposes what happens when corporate interests are prioritized over children’s safety in facilities. Tennessee’s youth suffer abuse, while prisons hide it and profit from their incarceration.
When corporations win, families lose
Who benefits from DCS's $421 million "Real Estate Initiative"? The companies receiving contracts to run these facilities for more than $200,000 per child, per year. With groundbreaking set for 2026, $333.3 million will go toward two large youth prisons, including reopening Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville (the old one was plagued by sexual abuse and closed).
But DCS recently reported that its population is declining, and fewer young people in custody are being incarcerated. So why is Tennessee constructing more places to incarcerate youth?
Under DCS’s plan, families lose, and the children in custody lose the most. They bear the direct harm of being incarcerated, reentering our communities having experienced violence, solitary confinement, medical neglect and disconnection – if they reenter at all. Survivors of violence and our communities lose, too, because devoting tax dollars to harmful institutions instead of healing services undermines public safety.
The ProPublica article serves as a timely warning against a “plan” that allows corporations to thrive by incarcerating children. At the Southern Movement Committee(SMC) and Raphah Institute, we envision a Tennessee where youth have the support and opportunities they need to thrive.
And we understand that if we want real solutions for our children that go beyond building walls to confine them, Tennessee must pursue a new vision of safety with youth, not from them.
Safety built on care, not punishment
That is what the Southern Movement Committee has spent years organizing for: purposeful and meaningful investments in community resources to prevent youth from coming in contact with the criminal justice system (what we recognize as the prison industrial complex) and, at the same time, developing and supporting community-based alternatives to the juvenile justice system.
We organize for community-driven forms of safety that are grounded in care, not punishment.
Our organizing was instrumental in creating Metro Nashville’s first Office of Youth Safety, which represents an investment in an evidence-based, public health and people-first vision for youth safety and gun violence prevention in Nashville. At SMC and Raphah Institute, we are working in coalition with the Alliance for Youth Opportunity and Safety to advocate for similar investments across Tennessee that help young people thrive and create lasting safety, like access to safe third spaces and restorative justice.
It’s time to admit that confinement is not a solution; in fact, it's often linked to higher rates of recidivism. It’s past time for Tennessee to make a different choice, to invest in families and community-based alternatives to youth prisons.
We know through our deep work with youth that a better way is possible. Nashville is leading the way. We hope the state will join us.
Zoë Jamail, a Nashville resident, co-authored the 2022 “Wilder Report,” detailing an investigation into Tennessee’s state run youth prison. As Raphah Institute’s Policy Director, she advocates for responses to harm that decrease reliance on incarceration, center healing through accountability and repair, and strengthen conditions that create safety.
Keral Hereford is a Nashville native, TSU student and Southern Movement Committee summer fellow and Youth Assembly member whose work is grounded in advocacy, building community and creating safe spaces where young people feel heard and supported.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: While DCS fails TN kids, new coalition has plans for change | Opinion
