No Escapes, But It Was A Night Of Mini Riots At Nashville Youth Detention Center

A perimeter fence has been repaired at Woodland Hills after Monday night’s escape. Credit: Emily West / WPLN

Ten detainees who’ve been identified as ringleaders have been taken to a Rutherford County facility after rioting at Nashville’s Woodland Hills Youth Development Center overnight. These are many of the same teens who escaped Monday night.

The situation was calm by daybreak (DCS updating here), but overnight teens could be seen carrying pipes and spraying fire extinguishers, running around the yard.

A couple dozen police cruisers surrounded the facility most of the night and a helicopter hovered overhead. The Department of Children’s Services also got reinforcement help from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Department of Correction. Officers came in with guns drawn, reportedly loaded with rubber bullets, to calm the situation.

DCS officials say 24 detainees broke out of their dormitories the same way they did Monday night. In a press conference broadcast on WSMV, Commissioner Jim Henry said the facility obviously needs to shore up security.

“For 24 years, nobody figured out how to breach them and all the sudden these kids figured out how to breach these doors,” he said. “They’re going to be repaired.”

DCS is also reinforcing paneling around windows and is planning to further strengthen the perimeter fence, though no teens were able to get through it after Monday night.

State officials say some of the teens may be charged with assaulting guards, who suffered minor injuries.

Henry points out that there may be a need to renegotiate a consent decree that restricts his officers from carrying firearms. Detainees can’t even be locked inside their dorm rooms, which he says makes it difficult to control rioting.

Meanwhile, six of those who escaped earlier this week are still on the loose.