Detainees Unsuccessfully Escape Texas Juvenile Center
SAN ANGELO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Multiple detainees who escaped a Central Texas juvenile detention center following a riot were returned to the facility.
Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Monica Schniers tells the San Angelo Standard-Times that the riot at the Tom Green County Juvenile Justice Center on Sunday started when two detainees got into a fight.
She says a juvenile broke into the control room during the physical altercation and opened all doors to one wing of the facility.
Schniers says between seven and nine detainees fled the detention center once the doors had been opened.
She says San Angelo police have returned all missing detainees.
Schniers says the detention center is reviewing policies and making changes to prevent detainees from accessing the control room again.
Other North Texas juvenile detention centers have experienced problems keeping inmates safe.
Seven years ago a tug-of-war game inside juvenile detention left a Cleburne teenager dead.
Jordan Adams, 14, and another inmate at the Granbury Regional Juvenile Justice Center in Hood County were using a bed sheet for the game of tug-of-war between the cells.
Granbury Police Captain Alan Hines said it looked like Adams tied the sheet around his neck.
Hines said the boys could not see each other between the cells, so it is unclear if the other boy was unaware of Adams' actions. Detective Chris Cogdill treated the case as a homicide.
"Based on witness statements, I believe the actor knew that the victim was choking and continued to pull the bed sheet."
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner said Adams died from asphyxiation due to strangulation.
According to state records obtained by CBS 11 News, the facility hadn't always met the state-mandated 15 minute standard. In May of 2011, inspectors found room checks were exceeding the required time. And in 2010, the facility was found to be deficient on at least two occasions of monitoring moderately suicidal youth every 10 minutes as the law requires.
Following the incident, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission sent investigators to Granbury to determine how the choking could have happened in a facility equipped with guards and surveillance monitors.
