CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – It’s been since the 1980s that Montgomery County has had a place to detain juvenile offenders, said retiring Judge Wayne Shelton.

Shelton has served as a General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge for 43 years. On June 28, as he was wrapping up loose ends and packing his office before retiring, he talked to Clarksville Now to share a little history on the issue.

Montgomery County’s juvenile detention center was shut down in the early ’80s because of the Sight and Sound Clause, which passed in 1974 as part of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act, designed to provide legal protections for juveniles caught up in the justice system.

The Sight and Sound Clause prevented juveniles from being housed in the same jail where adults were detained.

Montgomery County had been detaining juveniles in the same facility as adults, although in a secured section. When the law passed, juveniles were sent to other counties with standalone juvenile facilities, and the jail was remodeled to house more inmates. 

Shelton said that back then, juveniles were sent to a facility in Nashville, but then problems arose. “They got overcrowded and they wouldn’t rent us spaces.”

Currently, the county dishes out anywhere between $175 to $150 per night to send children to other facilities, mainly to the Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center in Columbia, a two-hour drive from Clarksville.

Montgomery County has been outsourcing juvenile delinquent detainment for over 40 years. Sheriff candidates on the issue

With the upcoming election, a juvenile detention center has come up in political debates. The sheriff candidates and juvenile judge candidates all agree some sort of juvenile facility needs to be constructed, although none are comfortable with calling it simply a “juvenile detention center.”

“No one could have expected the level of growth we have seen here, and I have said this before, with growth comes other issues,” incumbent Sheriff John Fuson said at the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce Political Forum on June 15.

“We certainly have a juvenile crime issue in Montgomery County, and I know when we first explored that years ago, the numbers didn’t line up that would be physically feasible for the county to run and manage.”

The feasibility study report, conducted by Justice Planners in 2021, outlined the need for a local juvenile detention center.

The company cited a drain on judicial resources and shortages of beds at out-of-county facilities. Justice Planners also noted when there is no placement to be found, children are often sleeping on the floor of the police station.

Shelton corroborated the finding. “Sometimes (officers) can’t find a bed, and sometimes the officer has to sit with a child all night at the Clarksville Police Department,” he said.

“Sometimes the child has to go back to the parent they beat up,” Shelton said. “They just have to tell the parents to bring them back the next morning.”

Mike Oliver, who is also running for sheriff, also said a juvenile facility is needed. “I’m all for one, but it is not up to me,” he said.

“I have always thought we could use a juvenile detention center here in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office is the one legally obligated to transport juveniles in the court system to a facility that will take them,” Oliver said. “In the past several years, we are getting to where we are taking juveniles all over the state; to Middle Tennessee, to West Tennessee, or wherever there is a bed available.”

Oliver said transporting juveniles to other facilities takes a toll on the department.

“It takes the resources of the deputy, sometimes maybe two. It takes them away from the road, from the community, to transport these juveniles. I have always said the problem is the cost, and like the sheriff said, I’m not sure why it wasn’t on the budget this year. I’m not sure if it will ever be,” he said. “I know it’s been tossed around for 15 to 20 years or more.”

Shelton said the problem goes beyond transportation.

“Some kids sit in these (centers) for 60 days,” Shelton said. “They are supposed to receive schooling, and they are not set up for services at these locations. If we had a resource center here, we could better prepare to offer these services.” Judicial candidates on a juvenile center

The three candidates for General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge, to fill the seat made vacant by Shelton’s retirement, all agreed that a juvenile center is needed.

Candidate James Bagby said during the Chamber Political Forum that he is in favor of establishing a juvenile center, but with some stipulations.

“I’m in favor of it,” Bagby said, “but more of a resource center, not just a detention center. Right now they are based all over the state … that takes away from their support system, that takes them away from their schooling, that takes them away from possibly getting the mental health treatment that they need.”

“If we had a resource center here where (juveniles) were detained or held, whatever the case may be, their families could go see them and they could maybe get schooling there so they wouldn’t be falling behind.”

Merriel Bullock Neal, another judicial candidate, said she too favors a center for juvenile rehabilitation.

“I am for a juvenile justice and resource center, not for a juvenile detention center, in our county. I think to have a detention center, we will be moving toward implementing the school-to-prison pipeline here in the county because we already have a larger number – a disproportionate number – of kids entering these detention centers. I want to see resources at the center so once the child and parent comes out of the court – the part where the judiciary is – they have ways around services like other cities do,” Bullock-Neal said.

Judge candidate Reid Poland said he also is in favor of a juvenile resource center. “When we have a child who can’t go home for a various number of reasons – whether they are just … on the street, their parent can’t be found, they have nobody to take them, they have committed some type of offense – we have police officers that have to be in charge of that juvenile until they can find a place for them to be.”

As for Shelton, when asked if he planned to continue pushing for a juvenile center, he said he plans to turn his attention to fishing.

“I haven’t fished in a long time,” he said, “but I might just try it.”

Adria Hyde is a reporter for Clarksville Now. She can be reached at (931)-648-7720 ext. 547. or AHyde@clarksvillenow.com.