Six teenagers escaped from the District’s brand new juvenile detention center Sunday, the second time someone has scrambled away from the $46 million facility since it opened five weeks ago.
U.S. Park Police said all six youth were captured about an hour after authorities launched an extensive manhunt that included at least five law enforcement agencies, a helicopter and K-9 units.
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“Six out and six in,” said park police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser.
It’s unclear how a half-dozen teenagers were able to walk away from the watchful eyes of the District’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
“DYRS has initiated a full investigation into this matter and, once complete, the agency will release the findings,” said Reggie Sanders said in a statement.
After a call went out around 2:45 p.m. Sunday, a U.S. Park Police officer saw six juveniles matching the description near the junction of the Baltimore Washington Parkway and Maryland Route 198, Schlosser said. When the officer stopped to question the teens, they fled on foot. The officer was able to grab one of the absconders, but the juvenile was able to break away during the struggle.
The teen crossed the roadway, and police set up a perimeter and summoned the park police helicopter. Officers in the sky spotted four juveniles hiding in a drainage pipe.
With the help of the Maryland State Police, the Anne Arundel County Police and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, the park police moved in and arrested four teens. The two other runaways were tracked down in the nearby Russet Green neighborhood by Anne Arundel police.
All six were returned to the New Beginnings facility, the center designed to be more like a college than a jail. It replaced the notorious Oak Hill center where the District’s juvenile offenders had been warehoused.
The escape was the third embarrassing incident since New Beginnings opened on May 29. Rainstorms flooded the state-of-the-art center just two days before it opened. A day after its ribbon cutting, one of the boy’s who lived there jumped over the fence. He was captured two days later.
Tasha Williams, chairwoman of the union that represents the guards at the new center, said she and her members tried to warn officials that the new facility wasn’t adequate to house wayward kids, but they were rebuffed.
