Juvenile Detention Facilities

Notwithstanding the provisions of T.C.A. § 37-1-116 to the contrary, in any facility that meets the following requisites of separateness, juveniles who meet the detention criteria of T.C.A. § 37-1-114(c) may be held in a juvenile detention facility that is in the same building or on the same grounds as an adult jail or lockup provided that no juvenile facility constructed or developed after January 1, 1995, may be located in the same building or directly connected to any adult jail or lockup facility complex:

1. Total separation between juvenile and adult facility spatial areas such that there could be no haphazard or accidental contact between juvenile and adult residents in the respective facilities;
2. Total separation in all juvenile and adult program activities within the facilities, including recreation, education, counseling, healthcare, dining, sleeping and general living activities;
3. Separate juvenile and adult staff, including management, security staff and direct care staff, such as recreational, educational and counseling.  Specialized services staff, such as cooks, bookkeepers and medical professionals who are not normally in contact with detainees or whose infrequent contacts occur under conditions of separation of juveniles and adults, can serve both; and
4. In the event that state standards or licensing requirements for secure juvenile detention facilities are established, the juvenile facility must meet the standards and be licensed or approved as appropriate.

T.C.A. § 37-1-116(i)(1).

In determining whether the criteria set out above are met, the following factors will serve to enhance the separateness of juvenile and adult facilities:

1. Juvenile staff are employees of or volunteers for a juvenile service agency or the juvenile court with responsibility only for the conduct of the youth serving operations. Juvenile staff are specially trained in the handling of juveniles and the special problems associated with this group;
2. A separate juvenile operations manual, with written procedures for staff and agency reference, specifies the function and operation of the juvenile program;
3. There is minimal sharing between the facilities of public lobbies or office/support space for staff;
4. Juveniles do not share direct service or access space with adult offenders within the facilities, including entrance to and exits from the facilities. All juvenile facility intake, booking and admission processes take place in a separate area and are under the direction of juvenile facility staff. Secure juvenile entrances (sally ports, waiting areas) are independently controlled by juvenile staff and separated from adult entrances. Public entrances, lobbies and waiting areas for the juvenile detention program are also controlled by juvenile staff and separated from similar adult areas. Adult and juvenile residents do not make use of common passageways between intake areas, residential spaces and program/service spaces;
5. The space available for juvenile living, sleeping and the conduct of juvenile programs conforms to the requirements for secure juvenile detention specified by prevailing case law, prevailing professional standards of care, and by state code; and
6. The facility is formally recognized as a juvenile detention center by the state agency responsible for monitoring, reviewing or certifying of juvenile detention facilities.

T.C.A. § 37-1-116(i)(2).