Teenagers spray a fire extinguisher at the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville, Tenn., early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. More than two dozen teens created a large disturbance Wednesday night in the yard of a detention center with a long history of violence, escape attempts and sexual-abuse allegations. Two days earlier, 32 teens escaped from the facility.NASHVILLE — Officials at a troubled Middle Tennessee youth detention center believe beefed-up security and changes in the facility’s behavior modification program will help prevent future rioting and escapes.
Reporters were invited Thursday to take a tour of Woodland Hills in Nashville, where more than 30 teenagers escaped on Sept. 1.
All were eventually recaptured. That escape was the first of three major incidents at the facility in September. There also was a riot in the yard and another breakout in which 13 teens escaped.
Since then, the center has used concrete to reinforce the bottom of the fence that surrounds the facility and incorporated other security measures.
The facility’s behavior modification program has also been changed to a more incentive-based program and less of a punitive model.