Youth escapees kept in solitary, lawyer says he alerted Children's Services

Adam Tamburin | The Tennessean

The attorney for one of the teenagers who escaped from the Nashville juvenile detention center says his client was still in solitary confinement a week after he was captured.

Nashville attorney Dwight Scott, who represents escapee Decorrius Wright, said his client was being kept alone in his cell 23 hours a day "with nothing but his clothes." When Wright was allowed out, the attorney said, he was shackled at the ankles.

Scott said an employee with Youth Opportunity, the company paid to manage the detention center, had met with him on Monday and had promised to make changes and alert him in writing.

He didn't hear back for days. Scott said he had prepared an emergency motion to protest Wright's treatment. He was going to file it Wednesday but stopped after he heard changes had been made.

“They have modified his conditions," Scott said Wednesday afternoon. "He is now receiving counseling. He has returned to school.”

Scott said he had alerted the Department of Children's Services about the conditions of the solitary confinement, which he said amounted to child abuse.

“The court needs to know about this. DCS needs to know about it," Scott said. “I don’t care what he’s charged with. It’s still unacceptable.”

Wright, 16, is charged in the shooting death of Nashville musician Kyle Yorlets in February.

He and three other teens escaped the downtown lock-up facility Nov. 30, after staff members released them from their cell, left them unattended and then allowed them to use an elevator to get to an unsecured floor. They then escaped out the front door.

Wright was taken back into custody Dec. 3. Two of the others were also apprehended. Police caught the fourth teen Thursday.

In a statement, juvenile court administrator Kathy Sinback said the escapees would be "housed separately from the other youth in the facility in non-adjacent cells" after they were taken back into custody.

Sinback said the conditions were meant to be temporary, and should have included books, education, counseling and more interaction with staff.

She said investigators had cleared the teens to return to the normal conditions Dec. 6, three days before Scott met with detention center staff to demand a change.

Sinback said she had heard attorneys for the teens were concerned about their clients. She had reached out to Youth Opportunity and "made our expectations really clear."

"I'm hoping that they fix the problem," Sinback said. "I'm assuming that they fixed it."

A spokesperson for Youth Opportunity did not respond to an email with questions about solitary confinement.

Company under scrutiny

Youth Opportunity has come under intense scrutiny after the breech. Sinback said there is evidence the company had been improperly withholding information about critical incidents at the detention center.

Juvenile court Judge Sheila Calloway, who oversees the company's $22 million contract, said the court would consider terminating the contract early. It is set to end in 2020.

Scott, who said he had worked on juvenile cases for more than 20 years, said he had never heard about past mismanagement by Youth Opportunity. But he said he considered the company's conduct in Wright's case to be criminal.

“I think this amounts to child abuse. I think it’s a state criminal crime," Scott said.

“That’s just not a good practice, to put children in solitary confinement," he said later. “I’m gonna protest to them every time they do it."

Scott also said his client never would have been charged in the escape if Youth Opportunity employees had done their jobs. Three employees will be fired for violating policy and allowing the escape, according to an internal report from the company. One will be suspended.

“I’d ask anyone to consider if you’ve got a birds in a cage and you leave the door open, what would you expect that bird to do?" Scott said. “If they hadn’t left the door open, he wouldn’t have left."

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.