RIOT BREAKS OUT AT SAME YOUTH CENTER WHERE 32 ESCAPED MONDAY NIGHT

1409832623000-Woodland teens riotOfficials handcuffed 24 teens early Thursday morning after a riot broke out at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center, the site of an escape that drew national headlines earlier this week.

The Department of Children’s Services called in officials with the Department of Correction and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who entered Woodland Hills clad in riot gear to restore order after hours of chaos.

The teens were able to break out of the dorm buildings late Wednesday by kicking out aluminum panels under windows, the same way dozens of teens escaped the facility Monday night. Once outside, they ran around the outdoor courtyard brandishing pipes, wooden planks and fire extinguishers.

Some of the teenagers were seen spraying the fire extinguishers into the air. Others used their makeshift tools to try and open up other parts of one of the buildings on the campus.

Ten of the “ringleaders” in the overnight riot have been taken to a detention facility in Rutherford County, according to a DCS statement. Others remain at Woodland Hills.

Some of the teens handcuffed this morning were also involved in Monday’s outbreak, the statement said. This time, none of the youths breached the perimeter fence.

It is unclear how many guards might have been injured.

Metro police and the Tennessee Highway Patrol surrounded the center while staffers tried to get the juveniles back into the facility, according to a DCS statement early Thursday.

A law enforcement helicopter hovered over the facility trying to keep a spotlight on the juveniles until it had to leave to refuel around 1:45 a.m. It returned about 20 minutes later.

Initial call

Metro police were called to Woodland Hills after the handful of teenagers attempted to escape the juvenile facility late Wednesday night. Earlier an emergency dispatcher said that crews were called to the DCS facility on Stewarts Lane at 11:28 p.m.

Initial reports indicated that five to six teenagers were trying to leave the facility, but none had gotten beyond its fence, the dispatcher said.

Thirty-two teenagers escaped from the detention center overnight on Monday night. Six of those escapees remained at large Wednesday night.

Early Thursday at Woodland Hills, law enforcement vehicles were stationed yards apart from each other outside the fence in case of a breach