Tennessee: Teens Break out of Detention Center, Again
Security at a youth detention center in Tennessee allowed 13 teenagers to escape Friday, the second major breakout at that facility within one month.
Spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services Rob Johnson said a group of teens overpowered a guard at the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville around 11 p.m. Friday. They took the guards keys and radio and broke out of their dormitory.
Nashville's Metro police and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers were immediately called and had caught all but one of the teens within hours of their escape. The remaining youth, a 16-year-old, was taken into custody at 6:45 a.m. Saturday. The teenager told officials that he had been hiding in a wooded area before they found him walking, according to a police statement released Sunday.
Johnson said that the breakout started while a guard was scanning the perimeter of the center and the guardhouse lay empty. The teens then smashed a window to the guardhouse with a rock, climbed in and opened the gate for others to escape.
The guard who was overpowered was treated and released from a hospital, according to Johnson. Another worker was injured as well but was not hurt seriously.
The breakout Friday is not the first issue security has had at this facility, nor its largest. On Sept. 1, 32 individuals escaped from the detention center. After they were recaptured, they were taken to the juvenile court detention center.
The next days brought riots at the facility where teens had acquired fire extinguishers and sticks.
"A lot of shortcomings were exposed after that first breakout," Johnson said to The Associated Press. "They've been working hard and fast and have made a lot of improvements, but there's still more work to do."
Increased security measures since Sept. 1 include surrounding the bottom of a perimeter fence at the facility in concrete. Reinforced windows with aluminum panels that were kicked out during the first escape.
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