CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – City and county officials presented their legislative agendas to Tennessee state lawmakers at their annual reception on Tuesday. There were several items on each list, but the most notable was a request for state funding to create a Regional Juvenile Resource and Justice Center.
Each year, the city and county present a wish list of items to state lawmakers to address at the Tennessee General Assembly. Several items have been successful in the past, including securing $14 million for a parking garage, hotel/motel tax rate changes, and funding for numerous road and infrastructure projects.
Juvenile Resource Center
As part of the 2023 Legislative Agenda for the 113th General Assembly, the Montgomery County Commission requested that the local delegation look at appropriating state funds for a Regional Juvenile Resource and Justice Center.
In May 2021, the county received results from a feasibility study from Justice Planners Consultancy Firm conducted because of a recommendation in the 2019 Legislative Agenda. County leaders explained in their proposal to state lawmakers that the results from the study indicate a need for a facility in Montgomery County based on population growth, travel costs associated with juvenile detainees and the severity of crimes committed by juveniles.
For years, Montgomery County has contracted with the Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center located in Columbia, 90 miles south of Clarksville. Montgomery County officials said that due to an increase in the severity of juvenile crimes, contracts for Columbia have been expanded to Rutherford County and as far away as Putnam County.
County Commissioner David Shelton said he has been sitting in on the committee meetings of those looking to make this happen. He said the main need is housing juveniles waiting for their trials. Currently, those juveniles are being shipped all over the state to be housed for only a couple of weeks.
“We’re talking about a detention center for pre-trial detention — not after a sentence has been given. These are people that have been charged with a crime, and they’re waiting for their court date,” Shelton said. “According to the study that was presented last year, that would be of no more than 20 or 25 days at the most, and that’s where we see a lot of that need right now.”
Benefits proposed
While outside contracts have met temporary needs, they have put travel burdens on families and are not sustainable, the proposal said. County leaders say a regional facility would be a way to solve this issue.
Some of the benefits include making it easier for the juvenile’s family and attorney to have access to visitations and maintaining continuity in county services. In addition, having a regional facility in Clarksville would decrease the number of officers taken off the road to transport juveniles to and from facilities farther away.
Since it would be a regional facility, Montgomery County taxpayers would not be shouldering the entire financial burden. The facility would also provide resources for parents and caretakers as well as decrease communication and decision-making lag time.
Early stages
Plans for the center are in the early stages, but it has drawn support from almost every county politician, as long as it is a resource center and not just a detention center.
“I’m really having a hard time finding anybody that simply says, ‘No, we don’t need to do it.’ The support is there; the question is whether the money is, and that’s where the challenges are going to have to be found,” Shelton told Clarksville Now.
Over the past few years, the county has been looking at grant funding and has included the item again on this year’s legislative agenda with data collected from the survey. The county has a committee dedicated to looking at options for this facility, and ideas are starting to form.
Among the ideas is to locate the center downtown.
“The last meeting, they did decide to look at that property that’s right across the street from the court center,” Shelton said. “The idea right now, and this is still an idea – it is public record because that was discussed in the meeting – but the mayor has proposed looking at that spot and building a four-story center building from the ground that would also include a causeway that would go from the juvenile building to the Courts Center,” Shelton said.
He noted that while that conversation has started, nothing has been signed and no plans have yet been set in motion. Much of what happens next will depend on funding from the state.