A Tennessee juvenile detention center from which four juveniles escaped in under a minute is at the center of a federal whistleblower lawsuit.
The four juveniles escaped on November 30. Another juvenile, two years earlier, escaped into the ceiling and fell through.
This federal whistleblower lawsuit claims there are even more problems than what’s been shown in these videos.
Attorney Brandon Hall represents Jesica Llana, a former Youth Opportunity employee, who this year filed this federal lawsuit claiming numerous unlawful activities within the facility by the staff, including youths allowed to walk around naked, a staff member having sex with juveniles and a youth assaulted by an employee.
Hall says, “She had, in fact, a duty to report these issues and their response to the lawsuit.”
Youth Opportunity denies all of the employees complaints, except for her complaints about the assault by another employee of a juvenile, saying that video shows improper restraint, and they fired that employee.
As for Llana, she claims she was punished for coming forward.
One time she alleges she was even locked in a room with seven juveniles.
Hall says, “Basically, they didn’t respond at all except to retaliate against Ms. Llana.”
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