Richard Bean has been forced out as superintendent of the troubled juvenile detention center that bears his name.
Bean’s departure comes amid revelations about medical malfeasance at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center. Bean came under scrutiny this week after he fired the facility’s only qualified medical professional and only information technology specialist on May 27, Knox News first reported. Bean reversed course a day later under pressure from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin.
Bean announced his retirement May 30 in a press release. His last day is Aug. 1.
Bean is staying on with the intent of getting “the center ‘shipshape.'” Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs called May 29 for the county commission to wrest control of the dentation center from the board of trustees that Bean answers to and shift operations to the sheriff’s office. Jacobs also asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to have the state take over.
Trustee Board member Billy Stokes said Bean told the chair of the facility’s board of trustees that a “loss of confidence” in his administration “hastened his intent to retire.”
It’s not the first time Bean’s methods have come under scrutiny.
ProPublica and WPLN/Nashville Public Radio reported in late 2023 that children held at the Richard L. Bean Detention Center in Knoxville were locked alone in cells – sometimes for hours or days – more than at other juvenile facilities in the state. The state repeatedly put the center on corrective plans, ProPublica reported, yet continued to allow it to operate.
“What we do is treat everybody like they’re in here for murder,” Richard L. Bean told ProPublica. “You don’t have a problem if you do that.” The problem, though, is that most of the children held at the facility have only been charged with a crime but not convicted.
Bean, 84, took over at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center in 1972. He’s well-known for his old-fashioned way of operating the facility. That was manifested in outdated recordkeeping practices and the disciplinary methods he uses on the kids confined to the facility, who are ages 12 to 17.
How Richard Bean came under the scrutiny that forced him out
Stefani Clowers, a registered nurse, told Knox News on May 28 she was fired by Bean on May 27. Bean told her he was unhappy she had sounded alarms for months about medical malfeasance, including one instance when a juvenile lost consciousness after ingesting another’s medication. No one at the facility took his vitals, called poison control or summoned an ambulance, Clowers told Knox News.
“He turned to me and said, ‘I got people everywhere,'” Clowers said. “They tell me what you do.”
In a May 28 letter obtained by Knox News, Jacobs and Juvenile Court Judge Tim Irwin said Bean dismissed Clowers and information technology specialist Thomas Cordell under “questionable circumstances.” They demanded Bean reinstate the two employees and said county Law Director David Buuck would provide Bean with offers of reinstatement for Clowers and Cordell.
Bean agreed May 28 to reinstate Clowers and Cordell, Jacobs spokesman Mike Donila told Knox News.
Bean answers to a board of trustees made up of three voting and seven nonvoting members. Only the board can discipline him. Knox County’s legal structure does not give Jacobs authority to oversee operations at the juvenile detention center. In his video statement, he demanded the county commission change ordinances to move supervision of the facility to the sheriff’s office.
“Please be assured that I am going to do everything that I possibly can to make sure that these issues are addressed as soon as possible,” Jacobs said in a video he released on social media May 29.
Voting members’ appointments are made by the Knox County juvenile court judge and the Knox County Commission. Nonvoting members’ appointments are made by the Juvenile Court Advisory Board; East Tennessee Development District Law Enforcement Advisory Committee; the Knoxville mayor; and the Knox County Commission.
Clowers told Knox News that Bean tells his staffers at the detention center that the voting trustees – Sherry Mahar, Billy Stokes and John Valliant Sr. – are his best friends.
“He’s the godfather,” Clowers said. “There’s really no other way to say it.”
Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Richard Bean forced out as juvenile detention center superintendent