Things are back under control at the Bridge City Youth Center in Jefferson Parish after 20 juveniles seized control of the juvenile detention center in an attempt to break out of the facility Thursday night.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the SWAT team were called in to regain control of the facility. It siege started shortly before 10:00 p.m. at the troubled facility which seems to struggle to detain juveniles held there on a variety of charges.
Authorities say the juvenile offenders took over several areas inside the facility. A JPSO spokesperson tells reporters that a facility employee and two youths were injured in the uprising. It took authorities two hours to regain control.
Last night’s disturbance at the facility comes hours after five juveniles had escaped the detention center. Four of the escapees were caught and returned to the facility while one juvenile remains at large as authorities continue the hunt.
As WWLTV reports, about 20 juvenile inmates have escaped the facility for over a year.
Neighbors tell the news outlet that teens escaping from the facility have become commonplace in their neighborhood.
“I be on that next street over there, and they come right straight out through the fence," said Roy Phoenix, a Bridge City neighbor. "That’s how they get out. They’ve got that light sitting out there to try to catch them. That don’t stop them. They get out in a minute.”
