Juvenile jail escape latest for troubled facility

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The juvenile detention center where 30 teens escaped under a fence has a long history of violence, allegations of sexual abuse and previous efforts to break out.
All but seven of the teens from the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville were taken back into custody on Tuesday, a day after they escaped. Officials said they had kicked out metal panels under the windows in common areas of their dorms to reach the courtyard and slipped out under a weak spot in the perimeter fence.
The facility was the site of a 2004 breakout attempt in which more than a dozen teens injured 16 staffers before they were dispersed by police. In 2010, the Department of Justice ranked the facility as 13th in the country for reports of sexual abuse by staffers.
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32 teens escape from Tenn. detention center;
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Officials say 32 teens escaped from a Nashvilleyouth detention center by crawling under a fence late Monday, and 9 of them were still on the run Tuesday.
Department of Children’s Services spokesman Rob Johnson says the teens — ages 14 to 19 — left their rooms and went into a common area, where they overwhelmed 16 to 18 staff members and kicked out a metal panel under a window to get out of the building and into a yard. Once in the yard, the teens realized they could lift part of the fence surrounding it and get out.
Two teens were captured immediately and others were found overnight. Local police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol were still searching for 10 from the group Tuesday morning.
Johnson says the state-owned center in northwest Nashville held 78 teens at the time of the escape, and most had committed at least three felonies.