If you need to file a juvenile
petition on your child, you can do so at the Rutherford County Sheriff's
Department Monday through
Friday between 6:00 am - 6:00 pm. Look for the Judicial Commissioner's
office near the sally port.
It is the responding law
enforcement officer who will set any necessary court dates.
Any youth brought into our
facility charged with a felony must be fingerprinted. These print cards
will be sent to the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigations and placed on file. The Rutherford County
Juvenile Detention Center provides this service to interested
law enforcement agencies, allowing their officer's to return to service more
rapidly.
Youth who may be under the
influence of any illegal substance shall be cleared medically by the Middle
Tennessee Medical
Center's
emergency room before
they can be accepted into our facility.
Every youth who is charged with
an offense may not be appropriate to stay overnight in juvenile detention.
In these circumstances, if a parent/guardian does not collect their child within an appropriate
amount of time, the Juvenile Judge may order the
parent/guardian to pay the standard contract rate of $125.00 per day for a
juvenile detention bed.
There are numerous laws that
govern how a juvenile detention center operates. We are unable to detain
a child to "teach him/her
a lesson." It is illegal to hold anyone (including a child) without
charges. We are required to hold specific court hearings for the
youths we detain within certain time frames. You can not ask that your
child spend time at Rutherford County Juvenile Detention
Center because you feel it will do
him/her "some good."
A parent or legal guardian must
always appear in court with their child. The court system believes if it
is important enough to
charge and detain a young person, it is important enough for the
parent/guardian to make arrangements to appear in court with
their child.
If a detained child requires
medical attention the parent/guardian is still legally and financially
responsible for those medical bills.
As required by the State of
Tennessee, the employees of the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center are specifically trained
to provide
professional
correctional supervision of the adolescent population we serve.
Rutherford County Juvenile
Detention Center is a secure
detention environment. The majority of the youth's time here is spent
in
their rooms. When the youths
move throughout our facility, our policy requires them to wear
leg irons.
The 2000 Census shows that the
population of children under 18 years of age has increased by 51% in
Rutherford County over
the last ten years.
Rutherford County
