Inspection Date: 10/27/2021

Division of Licensing Consultant: Heather Helton

315 Deaderick Street Inspection Type: Annual Review
UBS Tower 7th Floor
License Type(s): Juvenile Detention
Nashville, TN 37243

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LICENSURE NOTICE OF COMPLIANCE REVIEW

CORRECTIVE ACTION AND APPROVAL STATUS FORM

The DCS Division of Licensing regulates licensed agencies for compliance with applicable state rules and regulations
and state law.

Agency Name: Richard L. Bean Juvenile Services Center/Knox County Juvenile Detention Center

Agency Address: 3321 Division Street

Knoxville, TN 37919

Agency Contact: Richard L. Bean, Superintendent

Contact Phone: (865) 215-6500
DCS Contractor: Yes
Current Licensure Period: N/A
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Agency Information: Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center is a hardware secure detention facility located in
Knoxville, TN, that serves both male and female youth. The juvenile detention center is located next door to the
Knox County Juvenile Court. The detention center contracts with the Department of Children’s Services for
placements and houses youth from Knox and nearby counties. In addition to the youths’ living quarters, the
facility has a full court gym, kitchen and cafeteria, classrooms, and a health services area. The Superintendent
for the Knox County Juvenile Detention Center is Richard L. Bean and Kay McClain is the Assistant
Superintendent of the facility.

Licensed Capacity: 120

Census at Time of Visit: 35 (30 boys, 5 girls)
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Summary of Site Inspection:

For this annual licensing review, I was accompanied by Licensing Consultant Samantha Britain. Upon arrival to
the juvenile detention center, we were greeted by the Assistant Superintendent Kay McClain. Ms. McClain was
very welcoming and directed us to her office to begin the annual review process. Ms. McClain began the visit by
providing us with a copy of changes that had recently been made to the facility’s policy and procedures manual.
These changes included an update to the Key Control protocols, Use of Force policy, Incident reporting,
Educational Services, Health Services, and the Admission/Booking process. I asked Ms. McClain if the Policy and
Procedures manual had been updated to reflect the new requirements from the TN Seclusion Law. She stated
the facility’s Seclusion policy has not been updated yet and for now they are continuing to follow the same
policies that they have held since 1999 regarding seclusion of youth. She stated that youth are being secluded
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in their rooms more often now due to staff shortages at the facility.

Ms. McClain next provided the personnel list for the facility. The facility currently employs 51 staff members.
Ms. McClain stated there are 14 staff vacancies and she said they are having difficulty finding anyone interested
in interviewing for the positions. Consultant Britain and I reviewed six employee files on this date. There were
several items missing from the files and we discussed these with Ms. McClain.
The majority of the personnel
files had annual training verifications missing. Ms. McClain stated that the facility had not conducted their
annual trainings regarding the use of restraints, so most of the new personnel (hired in 2020 or 2021) did not
have verification of this training in their files. There was also one staff member that did not have verification
that she had participated in a training regarding the removal of a youth from a hanging situation, and an
additional staff member did not have verification that they attended Pre-Service training. We inquired about
annual evaluations for the personnel files and Ms. McClain informed us that none of the employees at the
Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center have had an annual evaluation for the last two years. She stated that
because the Knox County Human Resources Department has not required annual evaluations for personnel due
to COVID-19, that the juvenile detention center has not completed them for any of the facility staff.

Consultant Britain and I next reviewed youth files. There were 35 youth placed at the facility on the date of this
visit. Consultant Britain and I reviewed five youth files. All youth files contained the required documentation
per Licensing Standards. It was noted that for those youth in DCS custody, some of the information, including
the youth’s social security number or the most recent physical exam are not always provided by the DCS case
manager, but that information could be obtained from the DCS case worker if needed. Out of the five files that
were reviewed, there was only one youth who was not in DCS custody. Documentation of his medical exam was
in a separate file in the nurse’s office. I was able to review documentation confirming that youth had received a
physical exam within the 14 day required time period.

After reviewing the youth files, Ms. McClain gave us a tour of the facility. All common areas of the facility
appeared well organized and clean, including the cafeteria and kitchen, dayrooms, classrooms, and intake area.
We toured five of the six pods during the visit. There were no youth placed in the Orange Pod on this date due
to the staffing shortage. There were no findings for the shower areas or the youths’ living quarters as all rooms
appeared clean and free of clutter.

While we were touring the different pods, we also interviewed four youth. The youth had been placed at the
facility between three days and four months. All youth stated they felt safe at the facility and that the staff
treated them well. They stated they were out of their rooms the majority of the day for school, meals, gym time
and recreational time in the pods where they can watch TV, play cards/board games or draw. None of the youth
had been outside for recreation during their time at the facility. Neither of the females interviewed on this day
had been secluded, restrained, or sprayed with a chemical defense agent during their time at the facility. They
stated they had not witnessed that occur with any other females in the facility. Both male youths stated they
had not personally been secluded or restrained but they had witnessed that occurring with other youth for
fighting or “talking back to staff”. None of the youth had witnessed the use of any chemical defense agents
being used at the facility. All youth were familiar with how to file a grievance and how to report abuse but said
they had not needed to do so. The youth were complimentary about the food served at the facility and one
female youth stated, “it gets you fat”. All youth felt that they received enough food to eat and confirmed that
they also receive a snack in the evenings. When asked to speak about something positive regarding the facility,
all of the youth spoke about the staff and that they felt the staff care about them. One youth said that the staff
“talk to you when you are upset” and another youth said, “they try to teach you to do better”. When asked what
they would change about the facility, one youth stated he wished they had a commissary and two of the youth
stated they wished they could go outside. The other youth stated he could not think of anything he would
change about the facility.
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During this annual review, Ms. McClain provided several administrative documents that were requested
including the approval of the first aid kit, the most recent health inspection, and the menu for the youth’s meals.
Ms. McClain stated that the menus did not have approval from a registered dietician as required per Licensing
Standards because the registered dietician for the county’s adult jail refused to approve the menus for the
juvenile detention facility. Ms. McClain said this was due to the registered dietician telling them that the meals
served at the juvenile detention facility had too many calories per USDA standards. Ms. McClain was also unable
to provide fire drill logs for the facility because she stated those had not been done at all in the past year. The
Fire Marshal was at the facility during this visit doing his inspection and Ms. McClain stated she would send his
report to me as soon as she received it.

Ms. McClain and I had spoken during my last couple of visits to the facility about the need for staff schedules to
be documented so that Licensing could verify their staff to youth ratios throughout the year. After my last visit, I
provided Ms. McClain with several examples of staff schedules that other juvenile detention centers use
throughout the state. On this visit, Ms. McClain provided an example of a schedule that she developed to see if
it would be acceptable for Licensing purposes. From the example she provided, I told her that it contained all the
necessary information we needed from a Licensing perspective and she was free to use that going forward. Ms.
McClain stated that she still had some things she wanted to change to the form and that she would hopefully
have a final form created for the next Licensing visit. Since Ms. McClain had not completed the staffing schedule
form prior to this visit, we were unable to review staff to youth ratios for the past year for this facility.

Ms. McClain next provided me with stacks of Restrictive Behavior Management reports for the months of August
and September 2021. After reviewing all documents, the facility had a total of twenty-one RBM incidents during
that two-month period. All behavioral episodes resulted in the youth being secluded for an indeterminate
amount of time. In addition, one of the seclusion incidents also involved the youth being physically and
mechanically restrained. There were no incidents involving the use of a chemical defense agent. It was difficult
to discern how long the youth had been in seclusion or restrained for any of these incidents because there were
no end times provided on the form to determine the length of time for the incident. This has been discussed
with Ms. McClain and Mr. Bean on several occasions, and noted as findings, but the documentation continues to
lack the appropriate times for RBM occurrences.
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Licensing Office Use Only

☐ Corrective Action Approved

☐ Corrective Action Not Approved
☐ Corrective Action Not Required

Detail:

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Licensing Consultant Signature/Date: ____ ______________ 11/5/2021_____

Licensing Consultant Email: Heather.Helton@tn.gov

Licensing Director Signature/Date: 11/17/21

___________________________________________________________________________
Licensing Director Email: mark.anderson@tn.gov