NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Thirty teens “overwhelmed” their minders at a juvenile-detention center by simultaneously breaking out of four dormitories and then crawling under a weak spot in a chain-link fence, a state government spokesman said. By late Tuesday, seven were still on the run.
Police caught up with some walking along roads or leaving the woods. Some surrendered, including one who turned up at the guard shack Tuesday evening. And some were swiftly returned to the detention center by their families for their own good.
“He broke loose, he was gone, but he’s back now,” said LaWanda Knowles, who returned her nephew after he joined the escape.
The teens — ages 14 to 19 — left their rooms at the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center about 11 p.m. Monday night and gathered in common areas. With just 16 unarmed adults to keep watch over 78 youths in 12 dormitories, the staff was “overwhelmed,” said Tennessee Department of Children’s Services spokesman Rob Johnson.
“Staffing was lighter during the overnight hours, so presumably they had planned for that,” Johnson said.
The groups of young men kicked out metal panels under the windows of each dorm to get into the yard and then ran around for a while before some started slipping through the chain-link fence that encircles the campus. The fence is buried 8 inches into the ground, but the teens found a spot where they could slip underneath.
None of the staff members were hurt, and initially they simply called other staff members for help to get the teens back into the dormitories. Once they spotted the teens escaping the perimeter, they alerted police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol joined the search.
While juvenile criminal records are sealed, police released the names and mug shots of the remaining fugitives, all of whom are 17 or 18 years old. None of the fugitives are convicted killers, said Melvin Whitlow, the facility’s superintendent.
Knowles said police had arrived searching for her nephew around 5 a.m. at his home about 8 miles from the facility. The teen showed up about two hours later, and briefly saw his parents and family, she said.
“He wanted to see his mom, and nieces and nephews and his sisters, so he came home,” she said. “But when we found out that he ran, I jumped in my truck and put him in there and brought him back.”
Once back in custody, the teens who escaped were being taken to juvenile court to face potential escape charges, officials said.
Most of the 78 youths held at the center Monday night had committed at least three felonies, Johnson said, but the facility is more like a high school with security than an adult prison. There are no guard towers or barbed wire.
The teens stay in single rooms that, for their own security, are locked on the outside so only those with keys can enter. But they can push the room doors open if they need to. They wear blue pants with white or light-gray T-shirts, with no markings.
The center has a school, offers vocational training and career counseling, and works to move teens to less restrictive settings, according to a state website. It holds them until their 19th birthdays. All have been charged as minors, not adults.
The fence was fixed, and the center was calm and back under control Tuesday morning, Johnson said. Police cars were on the scene, but there was little activity at the center.
It’s not the first time teens have broken out of the dorms there. In May, a staff member was injured when a half-dozen students escaped into a courtyard, but they never made it any farther.
Information for this article was contributed by Travis Loller of The Associated Press.