Report finds 14 ‘forgotten children’ buried at former youth corrections facility in Tennessee

Courtesy Georgetown University's Center for Youth Justice

At a shuttered youth prison near Pikeville, a graveyard holds the bodies of 14 young Black boys who died while in state custody. That’s the finding of researchers with Georgetown University’s Center for Youth Justice. The school’s Forgotten Children Initiative has released a map documenting more than 1,000 deaths at 40 youth corrections facilities across the country.

The initiative launched in February, when youth deaths and burials at institutions like these were documented in just handful of states. This new report reveals that the practice is far more widespread than previously known, with burial sites found in 29 states. In Tennessee, that site was the Taft Youth Development Center.

Researchers say their goal is not just to identify graves. “It is to restore the identities and dignity of children whose lives were at risk of disappearing from history, reconnect them with their families and communities, ensure that they become part of the American story,” the report states. The initiative also advocates for reforms to the current youth criminal justice system.

“Far too many children today — particularly children of color, children with disabilities, and children in foster care, almost all of whom are also poor — are still punished for the harm done to them,” the report states.

Tennessee’s burial site

While researchers put the number of burials at the Taft Youth Development Center at 14, a note attached to the map entry states the “true death count is likely higher.”

Researchers also detailed the history and living conditions of the facility. Taft Youth Development Center originally opened in the 1910s as the Tennessee Reformatory for Negro Boys, housing youths aged 11 to 23. Living conditions were cramped and unsanitary, and youth sent to the facility were forced to work in nearby mines, the research states. Lashings were common. And children who tried to escape were kept in shackles.

“Our belief is that all the boys buried at Taft were Black,” wrote research professor Marc Schindler in a message to WPLN News.

The researchers also found one case in 1944 in which 16-year-old James Scales was lynched after being accused of killing the superintendent’s wife and daughter. “The crowd attempted to hang him, but he was first murdered by being shot four to six times in the head,” researchers wrote. The teen had been at the reformatory for only three weeks. None of the murders were ever officially resolved. (Scales is not among those buried at the facility.)

In 1971, the facility was renamed the Taft Youth Development Center. Around that same time the center was integrated. Later in the 1970s, the age range for children in custody was narrowed to 14-18, and corporal punishment was outlawed. It closed in 2012. Taft was the subject of a short documentary interviewing former prisoners and questioning how much treatment of youth in the criminal justice system has changed. 

Researchers say their investigation is ongoing, and they’ll continue updating their count as more information comes to light.

Update: This story has been updated to include an answer to WPLN’s question about the racial makeup of youth that died at Taft.