Rutherford County will pay out $6M for illegally arresting and detaining hundreds of children

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Rutherford Co will pay $1,000 for each illegal arrest & about $4,800 for each illegal incarceration -- but the total $6M payout falls short of expectations bec the young victims of illegal arrests have been so hard to find.
@alexistmarshall

@SinerSays

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Rutherford County will pay out $6M for illegally arresting and detaining hundreds of children

ALEXIS MARSHALL https://twitter.com/alexistmarshall
and EMILY SINER https://twitter.com/SinerSays
DECEMBER 21, 2021

Hundreds of young people in Rutherford County will receive money in a settlement after the juvenile justice system there illegally arrested and jailed them. A federal judge has approved a final settlement of approximately $6 million.

That’s much lower than the original $11 million that was estimated earlier this year, based on the potential for more young people filing claims. Attorneys had thought there could be nearly 2,000 eligible claims.

More: Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.

{snip}

Earlier this year, WPLN News and ProPublica published an investigation on the Rutherford County juvenile justice system and the woman who oversees it, Judge Donna Scott Davenport. Davenport has repeatedly declined to speak to WPLN News.

The class-action lawsuit suit stemmed in part from a 2016 incident at Hobgood Elementary, in which students were arrested at school based on charges that didn’t exist.