The Promise

In this series, we're going to tell you about what's been described as a toxic culture of misconduct and retaliation within the Metro Nashville Police Department. And the disciplinary system that has allowed that culture to thrive.

A juvenile court in Rutherford County was wrongly arresting and illegally jailing kids for more than a decade before a former juvenile delinquent-turned-lawyer came up with a plan to take it on. This four-part narrative podcast builds on a joint investigation by WPLN Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica and is produced by The New York Times and Serial Productions. “The Kids of Rutherford County” reveals how this system came to be, with particular attention to the adults responsible for it and the two juvenile delinquents-turned-lawyers who try to do something about it. The podcast's host is Meribah Knight, a Peabody Award-winning reporter for Nashville Public Radio who co-reported the original investigation. Listeners can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available. The first two episodes will premiere on Thursday, Oct. 26; parts three and four will air the following two Thursdays.

A police officer in Rutherford County, Tennessee, sees a video of little kids fighting, and decides to investigate. This leads to the arrest of 11 kids for watching the fight. The arrests do not go smoothly. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica. The show was produced by Daniel Guillemette with additional production by Michelle Navarro. It was edited by Julie Snyder and Jen Guerra. Additional editing by Anita Badejo, Sarah Blustain, Tony Gonzalez, Ken Armstrong and Alex Kotlowitz. The Supervising Producer is Ndeye Thioubou; research and fact checking by Ben Phelan, with additional fact checking by Naomi Sharp. Music supervision, sound design, and mixing by Phoebe Wang. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Dana Green and Al-Amyn Sumar. Original score by The Blasting Company. Additional production from Jenelle Pifer. Mack Miller is the Executive Assistant for Serial. Art by Pablo Delcan. Sam Dolnick is a Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times.

Quinterrius Frazier was 15 years old when he was arrested for aggravated robbery and held in the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. When staff said he was being disruptive — flashing gang signs and rapping, they claimed — he was placed in solitary confinement. It’s been almost seven years now, and Quinterrius still feels the effects of being locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day — he has trouble with small spaces, and he needs constant stimulation. Trauma has a way of lingering like that.

A young lawyer named Wes Clark can’t get the Rutherford County juvenile court to let his clients out of detention—even when the law says they shouldn’t have been held in the first place.  He’s frustrated and demoralized, until he makes a friend. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica. The show was produced by Daniel Guillemette with additional production by Michelle Navarro. It was edited by Julie Snyder and Jen Guerra. Additional editing by Anita Badejo, Sarah Blustain, Tony Gonzalez, Ken Armstrong and Alex Kotlowitz. The Supervising Producer is Ndeye Thioubou; research and fact checking by Ben Phelan, with additional fact checking by Naomi Sharp. Music supervision, sound design, and mixing by Phoebe Wang. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Dana Green and Al-Amyn Sumar. Original score by The Blasting Company. Additional production from Jenelle Pifer. Mack Miller is the Executive Assistant for Serial. Art by Pablo Delcan. Sam Dolnick is a Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times.

Wes Clark reads a telling line in a police report about how Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system really works. He and his law partner Mark Downton realize they have a massive class action on their hands. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica. The show was produced by Daniel Guillemette with additional production by Michelle Navarro. It was edited by Julie Snyder and Jen Guerra. Additional editing by Anita Badejo, Sarah Blustain, Tony Gonzalez, Ken Armstrong and Alex Kotlowitz. The Supervising Producer is Ndeye Thioubou; research and fact checking by Ben Phelan, with additional fact checking by Naomi Sharp. Music supervision, sound design, and mixing by Phoebe Wang. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Dana Green and Al-Amyn Sumar. Original score by The Blasting Company. Additional production from Jenelle Pifer. Mack Miller is the Executive Assistant for Serial. Art by Pablo Delcan. Sam Dolnick is a Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times.

“Minimalist classic country with maximalist tendencies.” That’s one way to describe the musical scoring of The Kids of Rutherford County. In this bonus conversation, Nashville Public Radio’s Meribah Knight and Celia Gregory talk about the multi-instrumental composing work of The Blasting Company.

The Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center has been punishing kids with seclusion more than any other facility in Tennessee. And as the laws and rules on how to treat kids changed, the facility failed to keep up.

The lawyers settle with the County, which agrees to pay the kids who were wrongfully arrested and illegally jailed; the hard part is getting the kids paid. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica. The show was produced by Daniel Guillemette with additional production by Michelle Navarro. It was edited by Julie Snyder and Jen Guerra. Additional editing by Anita Badejo, Sarah Blustain, Tony Gonzalez, Ken Armstrong and Alex Kotlowitz. The Supervising Producer is Ndeye Thioubou; research and fact checking by Ben Phelan, with additional fact checking by Naomi Sharp. Music supervision, sound design, and mixing by Phoebe Wang. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Dana Green and Al-Amyn Sumar. Original score by The Blasting Company. Additional production from Jenelle Pifer. Mack Miller is the Executive Assistant for Serial. Art by Pablo Delcan. Sam Dolnick is a Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times.

Karl Durr arrived in Rutherford County from Eugene, Oregon, in spring of 2016. He had been hired as the new police chief of Murfreesboro, the county’s largest city. As an outsider, there was a chance he would shake some things up. But less than two weeks after he started, while he was still furnishing his office and learning people’s names, officers from his department arrested 11 Black school children for not stepping in to stop a fight. When Durr discovers what, and who, is behind the arrests, he takes swift action. But he also makes a political enemy in the process.

"Making Noise" is a four-part series by WPLN and WNXP about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is to subscribe to the WNXP Podcasts feed.

Here's a preview of the new special six-part series from Nashville Public Radio, where we take you inside Nashville's oldest and largest public housing project.

At 61 years old, Vernell McHenry is like the grandmother of her corner of James Cayce. Where she’s lived for more than 17 years, greeting the neighborhood from a metal folding beach chair on her stoop. But Cayce is about the be transformed, torn down and rebuilt as mixed income apartments. And now, Vernell has a decision to make. Does she stay in her dilapidated and aging apartment where her friends and a gaggle of smiling kids live next door? Or does she go down the hill to a brand new building, potentially losing her social life and sense of home in the process? **Music Credits: ** Our theme music is by The Insider, additional music by Fleslit and Willbe, all found through the Free Music Archive. The archival audio, found through YouTube, is from the United States Housing Agency. **Production Credits: ** Writing and reporting: Meribah Knight Editing: Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg. With additional help from Tony Gonzalez, Emily Siner, Chas Sisk and Julieta Martinelli Sound Design: Tony Gonzalez Fact Checking: Steve Cavendish

If you live in the Cayce Homes in Nashville, you know Dexter Turner. Not by Dexter, but by his nickname: Big Man. A husband, a father, a community leader, a showman — Big Man is a name everyone knows here. People love Big Man. And he loves his neighborhood just as much in return. But the chaos and the violence in Cayce make him irate. We follow Big Man one pivotal afternoon where his plans for a family barbecue are upended by a fatal shooting right in front of his apartment. More info and photos are at thepromise.wpln.org Music Credits:  Our theme music is by The Insider, additional music by Fleslit, all found through the Free Music Archive. Production Credits:  Writing and reporting: Meribah Knight Editing: Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg. With additional help from Tony Gonzalez, Emily Siner, Chas Sisk and Julieta Martinelli Sound Design: Tony Gonzalez

The relationship between James Cayce residents and the Nashville police is a tenuous one. In this episode, we explore two defining moments in Cayce: A viral cell phone video of a police officer being assaulted, and the most controversial police shooting in the city’s recent history. Both were caught on camera. And both reveal the strain between the people who live in Cayce and the people who patrol it. Music Credits:  Our theme music is by The Insider, additional music by Fleslit, all found through the Free Music Archive.  Production Credits:  Writing and reporting: Meribah Knight Editing: Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg. With additional help from Tony Gonzalez, Emily Siner, Chas Sisk Sound Design: Tony Gonzalez Archival news clips were from News Channel 5 and WKRN. With additional audio from the Metro Nashville Police Department and Andrew Hunter. 

This is a story about the assumptions we all make. And the secrets we keep. With WPLN reporter Meribah Knight as the go-between, Big Man, a public housing resident from the Cayce Homes, walks across the street to meet the wealthy couple who live in the fancy new home on the hill.  In many ways, their lives couldn’t be more different, but in breaking the silence between the two sides of the gentrifying neighborhood, a friendship begins to form — only to be dashed in a way no one could have expected. Production Credits:  Writing and reporting: Meribah Knight Editing: Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg. With additional help from Tony Gonzalez, Emily Siner, Chas Sisk and Julieta Martinelli Sound Design: Tony Gonzalez

There is a saying in Nashville’s James Cayce Homes: “Get some gone.” Three simple words that describe the urge, the mission, to move out, to get away from the city’s oldest public housing project. Tonya Shannon grew up in Cayce. And she was determined to get out. So at 18 years old, she got some gone. But leaving the place is rarely a clean break. And with her mother still at Cayce, she lives with complicated thoughts about its future and the people she left behind.

Does this big idea to have low-income and higher income people living side-by-side really make a community better, safer, healthier? As The Promise comes to a close, we dig into the fundamental question driving this massive overhaul of Nashville’s public housing.   The city’s housing agency is betting on mixed income, big time. But its only attempts have been on a much smaller scale than what’s envisioned for the James Cayce Homes. We explore one particular attempt, at a housing complex nearby known as John Henry Hale. And what we find reveals that building pretty homes, and putting people side-by-side doesn’t necessarily produce a flourishing community. Music Credits:  The Insider, Black Ant, and James Pants, all found through the Free Music Archive Production Credits:  Writing and reporting: Meribah Knight Editing: Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg. With additional help from Tony Gonzalez Sound Design: Tony Gonzalez

We return to the James Cayce Homes to follow up with residents amid the $600 million overhaul. But in checking back, we trip into some news. And we’re reminded, yet again, of how difficult it will be to pull off this massive redevelopment. As the city preps to turn its largest public housing projects into a mixed income development, Cayce residents have to sign a new agreement with steeper fines for late rent, stricter limits on guests and cleaning rules. Plus, higher income tenants won’t have to sign it, which is making residents all the more skeptical, casting doubt on whether the housing authority can really deliver on its promise: To build a community where both the city’s poorest residents and prosperous city-dwellers can live in harmony.

If you've listened to The Promise, you no doubt remember Dexter Turner, aka Big Man. We met him in episode 2. The husband, father and community leader with a quick wit and a large personality had been planning a family barbecue, when a fatal shooting happened right in front of his apartment. In this episode, Meribah Knight speaks with Big Man months later, live on stage at Nashville Public Radio's Podcast Party.