The South Portland Police Department apprehended a 14-year-old boy on Friday night after he escaped from the Long Creek Youth Development Center, the state’s only juvenile detention center.
According to the Maine Department of Corrections (DOC), which operates the facility, a 14-year-old escaped at around 9:32 p.m. The child’s escape lasted only a few hours, and the South Portland Police Department apprehended him in Portland shortly before midnight.
Authorities have not released the name of the escapee, which is common practice in cases involving juveniles, and they did not specify what the minor had done to earn his sentence at the facility.
The DOC has identified the method used by the teen to escape and are taking action to prevent future escapes, though they did not provide any details on what actions would be taken to bolster security.
Though Long Creek boasts that it is Maine’s “only secure juvenile facility,” its recent history casts doubt on that title.
Last summer, two teens escaped from the facility, an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old. The juveniles climbed onto the facility’s roof by jumping from the top of a picnic table and escaped.
After the escape, the two boys stole a woman’s car, threatening her and demanding that she give up her vehicle. They were both eventually apprehended, though the 16-year-old had escaped as far as Georgetown, Massachusetts in another vehicle he stole in New Hampshire.
