Rutherford County is suing its insurance provider for refusing to cover its settlement in a large class action lawsuit over its unlawful policies for arresting and detaining children.
Meribah Knight, Senior Reporter/Producer of Special Projects
Meribah Knight is a senior reporter and producer at Nashville Public Radio and creator of the Peabody Award-winning podcast, The Promise, an immersive series from Nashville Public Radio about inequality and the people trying to rise above it. Her reporting on race and inequality in public schools prompted a wholesale shift in enrollment and attitudes toward school choice in one Nashville neighborhood. And her reporting on the juvenile justice system in Rutherford County, Tenn., was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the Goldsmith Award, and a National Magazine Award.
She is currently a fellow in ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network.
Her writing has appeared The New York Times and The New Yorker. Her radio and multimedia work has been featured on NPR and The PBS News Hour.
A native of Cambridge, Mass., Meribah has a Masters of Journalism from Northwestern University and a BA from New York University. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a photojournalist with the Tennessean, their toddler son and the family’s five cats.
Rutherford County detention center that illegally jailed kids will now answer to an oversight board
A juvenile detention center in Rutherford County, Tennessee, that for years illegally jailed children will now be overseen by a five-member board rather than the county’s juvenile court judge, a change designed to bring greater accountability to a long-troubled system.
Rutherford County juvenile judge is leaving. Will that change the system that illegally arrested and detained children?
WPLN’s Meribah Knight sat down with WPLN host Nina Cardona to explain what Judge Donna Scott Davenport’s departure means — and what it doesn’t — for the children of Rutherford County.
Judge Donna Scott Davenport announces retirement from Rutherford County’s juvenile court
Rutherford County’s embattled juvenile court judge will not seek reelection, a county spokesperson announced Tuesday.
New documents prove Rutherford County disproportionately jails black children, and it’s getting worse
Rutherford County has been jailing Black children at a disproportionately high rate, according to newly obtained data. And, in a departure from national trends, the county’s racial disparity is getting worse, not better.
For the first time in decades, Rutherford County’s juvenile court judge faces a challenger
Rutherford County’s embattled juvenile court judge has her first challenger in more than 20 years. The county’s senior judicial commissioner, Jacob Flatt, announced his plans to run against Judge Donna Scott Davenport in the 2022 election this summer.
Members of Congress are asking for an investigation into Rutherford County’s juvenile court following WPLN’s report
Government officials called Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system a “nightmare” that “boggles the mind.” They are demanding answers about why children were “unjustly searched, detained, charged, and imprisoned.”
Rutherford County’s juvenile court judge is no longer an adjunct instructor at MTSU
Judge Donna Scott Davenport, who oversees Rutherford County’s juvenile court system, will no longer teach at Middle Tennessee State University, according to an email sent to faculty and staff Tuesday evening.
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