Subscribe to Knox News: Local journalists covering local stories
Knox News journalists cover the important moments in Knoxville. Support local journalism by subscribing.
- The Knox County Sheriff’s Office will take over operations at the facility Jan. 1.
- Richard Bean, for whom the facility is named, is resigning under pressure after scrutiny on how he managed the detention center.
- The sheriff’s office has come under scrutiny itself for how it has handled the Knox County jail, including the death recently of a man suffering from meningitis who was beaten by jailers.
- “You’ve got to trust that the sheriff understands the oversight that comes from the commission and the state,” Dwight Van de Vate, Jacobs’ chief of staff, said.
The troubled and targeted leadership structure at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center is no more.
Months after state investigators began looking into the center’s “archaic” medical and recordkeeping processes and weeks after Knox News reported the center’s leader had fired two whistleblowers, the Knox County Commission approved an 18-month plan that will place the center under the control of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office starting Jan. 1.
In July 2027, county commissioners will have the option to ask KCSO to continue operating the center or to explore other avenues.
In the meantime, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is in charge of the detention center. Complaints about the center’s medical practices under Bean, for whom the facility is named, previously went unnoticed because DCS delivered its regular reports to a board of trustees made up of Bean’s self-described “best friends.”
The plan commissioners set in motion creates a new board to oversee the sheriff’s office’s management, but because the sheriff’s department is independent of the commission and the general county government, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and commissioners cannot tell it what to do.
The only way for the county to hold the sheriff’s office accountable for fixing deep-seated problems at the facility is by not allowing the agency to continue managing the facility when their new agreement expires in July 2027.
“You’ve got to trust that the sheriff understands the oversight that comes from the commission and the state,” Dwight Van de Vate, Jacobs’ chief of staff, said. “At the end of the day, I’d encourage you to trust that he wants to get it right and DCS wants to get it right.”
The sheriff’s department’s ability has repeatedly come under scrutiny for its failures running the county jail. KCSO is set to take over the juvenile detention center months after the death of an adult inmate at the Knox County jail. The man was beaten by jail staffers who did not recognize he was suffering from untreated meningitis. He died the next day.
“I don’t understand how we’re considering the sheriff when they can’t handle the facility we have now,” said Imani Mfalme-Shu’la, the leader of Community Defense of East Tennessee, said. “The decision you make … you have to live with.”
How leadership will change hands
Commissioners on June 23 dissolved the former board of trustees and appointed a new oversight board.
- Jacobs will hire an interim superintendent, to manage the facility through Dec. 31.
- DCS will continue doing weekly check-ins at the center until the end of September, Van de Vate told commissioners, with the option to move to less frequent visits if the county and DCS see fit.
- KCSO will take over from Jan. 1, 2026-July 1, 2027.
- While KCSO is in charge, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s County Technical Advisory Service would study best practices to inform a long-term solution to put in place after the 18-month period.
“Today’s vote is a meaningful step forward,” Jacobs said in a written statement after the vote. “I want to thank (the commission) for recognizing the importance of a thoughtful transition that prioritizes stability for both the youth and the staff. I’m grateful to the sheriff’s office and the folks on my team who worked tirelessly to make this happen. Now, the real work begins.”
There is no blueprint in Tennessee for how to operate a juvenile detention center. Van de Vate told commissioners June 16 that leadership of the other 16 facilities across the state is a mixed bag. Some are managed by local sheriffs, some by the county government and some by the juvenile court.
How we got here
Bean, 85, set off the chain of events leading to his forced resignation when he fired two employees, including the facility’s only registered nurse, who had sounded alarms about medical malfeasance and his “archaic” methods of running the place.
Medication intended for the juveniles incarcerated at the facility regularly went missing, nurse Stefani Clowers told Knox News. Medication most often went missing when she returned to work on Mondays after being away for the weekend.
One time, in early 2024 when a tablet of hydrocodone prescribed for a juvenile went missing, Bean and his lieutenant, Kay McClain, simply thanked Clowers for informing them, Clowers said. Hydrocone is a semisynthetic opioid that can be habit forming and its distribution is rigorously regulated by medical professionals.
Bean, whom the facility is named after, fired Clowers and an IT specialist. Those firings put a a spotlight on Bean. Jacobs and Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin told Bean in no uncertain terms he needed to reverse the dismissals, and he did. But the revelations about how the facility is run prompted Jacobs to up the pressure and shift control of it.
Jacobs asked Gov. Bill Lee on May 29 to direct DCS to take over operations at the facility, and the agency has been doing weekly check-ins ever since, Van de Vate said.
Separate from DCS check-ins, investigators with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury came to the facility April 7, Clowers told Knox News.
Two days after rehiring Clowers, Bean announced his retirement May 30 in a press release. Trustee Board member Billy Stokes said Bean told the chair of the facility’s board of trustees that a “loss of confidence” in his administration “hastened his intent to retire.”
About the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center
The juvenile detention center was built in 1930 and was guided by an independent board of trustees. In 1972, Bean began his tenure and has run the facility, named the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center in his honor, ever since with no meaningful oversight.
He’s told staffers he’s “best friends” with the voting members on board of trustees, and they would never remove him.
30 juveniles were held in the 120-bed facility the morning of June 23, Van de Vate said.
Knox News reporter Allie Feinberg covers politics. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com
link
More Stories
Trump administration further clarifies telework expectations
Management Technician for Military & Veteran Services & New Student Orientation
Business of Home