Quinterrius Frazier was 15 years old when he was arrested for aggravated robbery and held in the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. When staff said he was being disruptive — flashing gang signs and rapping, they claimed — he was placed in solitary confinement.
Meribah Knight takes us behind the scenes of her new podcast ‘The Kids of Rutherford County’
In 2016, WPLN’s senior reporter and special projects producer Meribah Knight heard a disturbing story from Rutherford County, a suburban Tennessee community southeast of Nashville. A group of elementary schoolers were arrested for something that didn’t seem like a crime: watching a fight between other kids and not intervening. Meribah dug in further and discovered […]
The Kids of Rutherford County: A reporter’s essay
The three years I spent working on “The Kids of Rutherford County” podcast taught me one thing: Tennessee’s punitive policies aren’t leaving children in the legal system better off.
Rutherford County’s juvenile detention facility is under increased oversight, yet still expanding its reach
Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system has come under fire for locking up kids at rates that surpass every other county in Tennessee. And it doesn’t just detain its own kids. The detention center contracts with counties across the state and charges a daily rate.
Rutherford County is back in court over juvenile arrests, now fighting insurer to cover its payouts
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.
Travis Lampley is likely Rutherford County’s new juvenile judge. He takes over a system that sowed distrust with its treatment of children.
It appears that Republican Travis Lampley will be the next juvenile court judge of Rutherford County. Lampley is the assistant district attorney and brings a decade of experience in juvenile courts to the role.
A Rutherford County juvenile judge illegally arrested and jailed children. Now two candidates for her seat have to rebuild trust.
A judge’s retirement has voters asking: Will her replacement bring change to a dysfunctional system?
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.
WPLN’s reporting on Rutherford County’s juvenile court is a Pulitzer Prize finalist
WPLN and ProPublica’s joint investigation of the juvenile justice system in Rutherford County, Tenn., is a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize’s feature writing category.
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.
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