2 Juvenile Justice Center employees charged in escape of four teens
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Nashville (WTVF) — A supervisor and former employee of the Juvenile Justice Center were arrested and charged in connection to the escape of four teens.
Patrick Jones was charged with facilitating, through recklessness in the November 30 escape. His arrest is based on investigation of the escape by the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Major Case Task Force.
Decorrius Wright, 16, Morris Marsh, 17, Brandon Caruthers, 17, and Calvin Howse, 15 escaped through the front door of the center.
The company that manages the center, Youth Opportunity Investments, identifies Jones as the operations manager in the incident report conducted by YOI after the escape.
The report states Jones was one of the employees with the teens while they were out of their cells cleaning, but left to respond to a fight in another area of the facility.
According to the report, when he left, Jones failed to ensure the elevator door was secured. That’s when the four teens were able to get on the elevator and convince a staff member to send the elevator to the basement, which is an unsecured area.
It was recommended that he be suspended for three days following the incident. The report also says Jones was well aware that all youth should have been in their assigned rooms; however, he let them out to clean because the building “needed to be cleaned” based on his observations.
According to a police report, three of the four juveniles weren’t eligible to be on work detail due to a low behavior percentage score.
Jones was also the first to notify someone when of the escape. He notified the facility director that the teens were missing at 9:57 p.m. but police weren’t notified until 10:22 p.m. — something police officials say helped the teens stay on the run for as long as they did.
The second person charged was former employee 25-year-old Alexis Beech, who was fired following the escape. She was the other employee with the teens while they were cleaning, but left to break up the fight. According to a police affidavit, Beech did not notify anyone that she was leaving them without supervision, which is a violation of policies and procedures.
The report recommended she be terminated for failure to provide sight and sound supervision.
She surrendered to police Wednesday night and was charged with facilitating, by recklessness. She later bonded out early Thursday morning.
Both arrests are based on investigation of the escape by the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Major Case Task Force.
Three of the teens have since been recaptured, but Caruthers is still on the run. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials placed him on their Top 10 Most Wanted list.
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