Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 30, 1993 TAG: 9303300293
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
During the few chaotic minutes it took for three teen-age boys to break out of the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Center, everything went according to their plan.
It started late at night on March 22 when a 15- and 17-year-old stuffed toilet paper in their cell commode, then called for help to clean up the overflowing water.
The counselor who arrived was quickly called to a nearby cell by another 17-year-old complaining of stomach pains.
Once the second door was unlocked, all three youths jumped the counselor, snatched his keys away and locked him in the cell.
After unlocking an outside door, the teens ran to a predetermined spot in the chain-link fence where someone from the outside had cut a slit big enough for them to slip through.
Then they took a cross-country route to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where the driver of a getaway car was waiting to speed them away.
When police arrived at the Botetourt County facility just 3 1/2 minutes after the escape began, the youths were long gone.
"It was very well-executed," Coyner Springs Superintendent Mark Johnson said Monday. And while it may not have been part of the youths' plan, overcrowding played a role in the escape.
Had the center been holding its intended capacity of 21 youths - instead of 26 on March 22 - "this incident would not have occurred," Johnson said.
Because cells designed for one juvenile were holding two, the counselor quickly became outnumbered. If that potential risk was on his mind, it was overshadowed by the fact that water from the overflowing toilet was soaking a mattress placed on the floor for the extra youth.
"It was incumbent for him to get in there and get things dried out," Johnson said.
But if the same thing happens again, the mattress probably will get soaked. Following the escape, Coyner Springs officials implemented a new policy: only in life-threatening incidents should a counselor go into a locked cell alone.
In responding to something like a stopped-up toilet, staff members now are required to wait for a backup before unlocking the cells, Johnson said.
Despite the danger that existed during the escape, no one was injured.
"I don't think these kids had a serious intent to hurt the staff member," Johnson said. "I think their intent was to leave."
It used to be that when the Coyner Springs population topped 21, Johnson would get on the phone and find an empty bed in Lynchburg or Christiansburg.
That is no longer the case, as juvenile homes across the state are experiencing overcrowding brought on by an increase in violent crimes among young people.
Last fall, a group from Berkeley, Calif., conducted a study of juvenile detention homes. Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Richmond, said the group's 26-page report documented "dire conditions."
It found that youths were being forced to sleep in shifts to accommodate limited bedspace; as many as eight juveniles at a time were sleeping on bathroom floors; some were locked in their rooms for long periods; and one had been tied to a post.
Coyner Springs, which incarcerates youths charged with crimes in the Roanoke Valley, was not one of the five homes visited by the study group.
The ACLU, which has been involved in jail-overcrowding lawsuits in the past, decided to see how the General Assembly would react to the problem at its latest session.
"Our word was, don't address it with a long-term study," Willis said. "What you have documented here is a dire problem."
Since then, the ACLU has decided to revisit the issue with a potential lawsuit in mind. "The General Assembly really did not act in a substantial way to correct this problem," Willis said.
At Coyner Springs, the situation was clear two years ago. In appealing to Roanoke City Council in late 1990 for help, Johnson said the home - designed for a 75 percent capacity rate - was averaging 103 percent.
Two years later, the figure is closer to 125 percent. But it was the threat of a court order dealing with Roanoke's overcrowded jail that prompted city officials to take action.
Council recently authorized the sale of $6.3 million in municipal bonds to help finance expansions of the jail and Coyner Springs, projects that also will receive state funding.
Although Johnson is pleased with the plans, he still must cope with more juveniles with more violent records as he waits for construction to begin.
"Things will get worse before they get better," he said.
The escape was the most serious one in recent years at Coyner Springs, given the number of youths that got free and the outside assistance they received.
But it could have been a lot worse.
As soon as they obtained keys from the overpowered counselor, the three youths unlocked the cells of two other youths considered to be leaders by virtue of their age and experience, Johnson said.
The leaders refused to join the escape.
"When push came to shove they had to make a quick decision, and they made a wise one," Johnson said.
Had the breakout been larger, violent offenders could have been running free through the community that surrounds Coyner Springs - something that Johnson emphasized was not the case during the dozens of calls he received from worried residents.
The three youths who escaped were being held on burglary and theft charges.
It was the first escape at Coyner Springs since nearly two years ago, when a youth slipped through a narrow serving slot in the center's dining area and bolted out the kitchen door.
Since then, there have been at least two other instances in which youths being led to the center by sheriff's deputies have broken free and fled before reaching the front door. Those were not counted as escapes from the facility because the youths were never inside.
Because juvenile homes are designed more for rehabilitation than punishment, they are not as secure as jails or prisons.
But given the changing population, Johnson said the home could benefit in some respects from more jail-like features, such as a sally port - a fortified garage - for transporting prisoners in and out.
Four days after the escape, police found two of the youths sleeping in a shed on Montrose Avenue Southeast. The third youth, one of the 17-year-olds, was arrested Saturday night at a home in Southeast Roanoke.
All three have been charged with assault and violating a court order confining them to the center. Since their return to Coyner Springs, they have been held in solitary confinement.
Authorities also are investigating the apparent help the youths received from an outsider.
Now that the youths are back in custody and plans to expand the center are in the works, Johnson said it's important not to forget the underlying factors that created the problem.
Until more efforts are made to lead juveniles away from crime through education and treatment, he said, building more jails for them will accomplish little.
"It's extremely important that we don't envision this bricks-and-mortar project as a solution to the problems in Roanoke," he said.
by CNB