When Knox County leaders promised to create an effective oversight board for the troubled Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center, a pillar of the strategy was to reserve a spot for a member with firsthand knowledge of how to treat incarcerated minors.
Instead, Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin used his single appointment designed for that expert to select Knox County Commissioner Rhonda Lee, a public defense attorney. She told Knox News she has represented teens in the past but has no experience in youth detention facilities like the Bean Center, which holds kids and teens ages 12-17 who have been accused or convicted of serious crimes.
Juvenile incarceration takes specific knowledge and care, Tennessee Department of Children Services investigator Domonica Bryan told Knox News. Because commissioners don’t have experience running a detention center, Irwin’s appointment did not fill that need…