Richard L. Bean, the longtime superintendent of the East Tennessee juvenile detention center that bears his name, abruptly announced he is stepping down. His decision to retire comes the day after the Knox County mayor said issues at the facility caused him to lose confidence in the superintendent, and years after a WPLN and ProPublica investigation exposed Bean’s unlawful use of solitary confinement.
Bean could not be immediately reached for comment.
Increased scrutiny on the detention center began earlier in the week when Bean dismissed two employees, one of whom was the facility’s only nurse. The nurse’s termination was first reported by Knox News, and the mayor described it as “retaliation” because she had reported significant issues with medical care for the children at the facility to state investigators.
On Wednesday, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and juvenile court judge Tim Irwin wrote a letter to Bean demanding he reinstate both employees.
“These dismissals may well lead to lawsuits against you and the county,” the letter reads, “which could cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The following day, Jacobs wrote a letter to the governor calling for immediate state intervention, and detailing issues with medication in the facility going missing, errors with medication reporting and “even medication going to the wrong detainees.”
In a public video statement, Jacobs said he had “no confidence that these issues will be addressed with the center’s current leadership or the governing board that oversees the Bean Juvenile Detention Center.” He called for the Knox County Sheriff’s department to take over operation of the center but said he has limited power to intervene because Bean’s position is controlled by a board of trustees.
By Friday, Bean announced that the situation had hastened his plans to retire, and that he would leave his post as superintendent in two months after he gets the facility in “shipshape,” according to a press release. He has been in charge of the facility since 1972.
A 2023 investigation from WPLN and ProPublica found that the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center was using solitary confinement more than other facilities in the state. Sometimes the children were locked up alone for days or hours at a time. That kind of confinement was also used as punishment, in violation of state law.
“What we do is treat everybody like they’re in here for murder,” Bean told WPLN during a 2023 visit to the facility. “You don’t have a problem if you do that.” Most of the children in the Bean Center are not in for murder. Most are awaiting court dates after being charged with a crime.
When asked if he was worried he might get in trouble for the way he was running the facility, Bean said, “If I got in trouble for it, I believe I could talk to whoever got me in trouble and get out of it.”
His last day as superintendent will be August 1.
William DeShazer for ProPublica Richard L. Bean walks from the detention center to the juvenile court.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM