Maryland

Teens Charged With Rioting After Attempted Escape From Troubled Juvenile Facility: Police

Eight staff were assaulted and three hospitalized after a disturbance, police say

What to Know

  • Three staff were hospitalized and eight teen inmates arrested after a what police say was a disturbance at a juvenile facility on Sunday.
  • Police charged the teens with attempted escape, rioting, assault and other charges.
  • State reports show the facility has a history of problems and criticize its "negative culture."

Eight teen inmates were charged with rioting and assault after allegedly attempting to escape from a juvenile facility in Maryland that the staff's union says doesn't have enough workers.

Diego Glay, 19, Daniel Emos, 17, and Bernard Moore, 17, were charged with escape, assault, riot, malicious destruction of property and theft for their suspected roles in a disturbance at the Victor Cullen Center, a maximum security center in Frederick County.

Five other teens were also charged.

Police say the disturbance left three staff members hospitalized and more injured at the facility, where state reports show a pattern of tension and physical altercations between staff and inmates.

The union representing workers at Victor Cullen Center also says the facility is understaffed.

"For months, we have consistently warned that an incident like this was inevitable because of the ongoing staffing crisis in detention facilities, hospitals and departments across Maryland," said AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran.

Employees are forced to work up to 24 hours overtime to meet minimum staffing levels, Moran said.

“Every day staff at Victor Cullen Center go into work unsure of when they’ll be able to leave because of short staffing."

Two unknown juveniles got into a fight on Sunday morning at the facility that led to other inmates getting into physical altercations with staff, police said.

Some juveniles took keys and radios from the staff during the fight and escaped out of the housing areas and onto the facility's grounds, police said. They kicked in a door to an office trailer, broke a window and stole candy, police said.

Police said officers surrounded the building to create a perimeter and a deputy trained as a negotiator spoke to the young people via a radio.

Seven juveniles surrendered to police and one was taken into custody without incident, police said on Sunday.

The three named inmates, Glay, Ennos and Moore, will be charged as adults, police say. The five others will be charged as juveniles.

Maryland State Police say 29 inmates are housed at the facility.

Eight staff members were assaulted, police said, and three went to the hospital.

Police say they had no physical confrontations with the young people. All of the juveniles at the facility have been accounted for and no one escaped from the facility's grounds, police said.

The facility is owned and operated by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, the state says.

In a report published by the Maryland Attorney General in March, the Victor Cullen Center was singled out for having a negative culture and has faced several complaints of verbal and physical abuse of inmates by the staff.

One temporary staffer was quoted saying the facility is a "place of total confusion," the report says.

The report highlights several concerning grievances and incidents from the last months of 2017 that show tension between staff and the young inmates housed at Victor Cullen Center, including:

  • Several inmates complained that a staff member said they weren't human.
  • A therapist reported seeing a staff member push and threaten an inmate. 
  • A youth inmate took a staffer's watch and refused to return it. An altercation ensued, where the youth threw the watch on the ground as a staffer lifted him off the ground by his shirt. Then, the inmate took a swing at the staffer.
  • An argument and altercation ended after the inmate and a staffer went where there weren't cameras and the inmate got a bloody nose.

The facility houses males between the ages of 15 and 18 for treatment programs for mental health issues and substance abuse, according to the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. The treatment lasts from six to nine months.

The state says it would like to reduce the number of inmates because of the facility's negative culture. The state also said research suggests that youth crime isn't stopped by incarceration.

The facility received a harsh assessment in a 2016 report prepared by Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit tasked with overseeing youth facilities across the state, News4 reported.

"Issues with safety, security and supervision of the youth remained of great concern," the report said.

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