Six Students Still At Large After Likely Planned Escape From Bordeaux Detention Facility

DCS employees Rob Johnson, Melvin Whitlow and Joel Player meeting with reporters on Tuesday about a detention facility break that occurred Monday night. Credit: Emily West/WPLN

UPDATED: Sept. 3, 2014, 3PM:

Authorities say another student has been taken into custody, bringing the number still at large to six. The internal investigation at the site is ongoing and the staff is “taking a particularly close look at strengthening the perimeter of the fence.”

ORIGINAL POST: 

Tennessee officials say the 32 young men who broke out of a juvenile detention center Monday night appeared to have coordinated the escape, and seven of them, all convicted felons, are still on the loose.

A few minutes before 11 p.m., which was shortly after a shift change, security guards at the Woodland Hills facility in Bordeaux started to sense “the rumblings of trouble,” according to Department of Children Service’s Spokesman Rob Johnson. The young men left their unlocked dorm rooms (unlocked by policy) and began drifting through the buildings, as staff members tried to get them back into their dorms.

“When they started doing head counts and realizing people were missing, they called the cops,” Johnson said. The time between the escape and when the call was placed to police? An hour and 39 minutes. The reason for that delay, Johnson said, is still being investigated.

To the staff members, it didn’t look like a mass exodus. Instead, the young men filed out of four different dorms one by one. They kicked metal panels from under windows frames in each dorm then took off for a weak spot under the chain-linked fence that encloses the facility.

At the time, there were 16 unarmed staffers watching over 78 teenagers, which caused the staff to feel “overwhelmed,” Johnson said. No staff members were injured during the escape. Whether staff members will be fired or disciplined as a result of the break is also still under internal investigation.

The facility’s lights-out time is 8:30, and guards are supposed to do bed checks about every 15 minutes.

After the break, most were caught walking along roads, or coming out of the woods. Others turned themselves in right away. All of those who participated could face escape charges but will likely remain at the facility, which also serves as a school.

The majority of the detainees there have been convicted of at least three felonies. Among the seven still at large, some have been convicted of violent crimes.

“It’s hard to tell what any kid would do. It’s hard to tell how desperate a kid would be in this situation,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to tell how much they’re gonna try to hide.”

DCS facility manager Joel Player said the fence wasn’t strong in one particular place, but it’s since been fixed.