The facility had a policy called the pilter system, and this is what was deemed absolutely illegal by a federal judge. They had a policy written into their standard operating procedures that said, we can keep a child in detention if we deem them to be a true threat. The parents of the kids said, you know, my my child will never look at law enforcement the same way. A number of the ones who were rounded up in that mass arest that day at the school had bad dreams. It's incredibly damaging and dramatic to put a child in jail.
For 11 years, a Tennessee judge sent kids to jail for a crime that doesn’t exist. Nashville Public Radio’s Meribah Knight explains why that judge is still in charge of “juvenile justice.”
Today’s show was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices