Shelby County Mayor Mickell Lowery has told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism that he will establish independent oversight of the county’s three detention facilities — 201 Poplar, Jail East and the Youth Justice and Education Center — at the beginning of 2027.
The plan would deliver on Lowery’s campaign promise to create an independent oversight board for the juvenile detention center. A 2025 MLK50 investigation revealed that children in the facility were being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day or more, but parents, advocates and community members have been pushing for independent inspections of YJEC much earlier, said Ala’a Alattiyat, a youth justice advocate at Stand for Children.
“People have been asking for a long time,” she said. The first [review board] iteration was the [Countywide Juvenile Justice Consortium], they weren’t given power to do oversight.”…