D.C. and Maryland police are searching for a youth that escaped from the New Beginnings Youth Correctional Facility in Laurel late last night. Around midnight, WUSA9 reports, a teenager assaulted a corrections officer, stole his security card and car keys, then used a ladder to scale a fence and drove off in the officer’s vehicle. (A second teenager that was part of the escape plot was caught.)
It’s hardly the first time that youth have exploited security issues at the facility — a rash of escapes occurred during the first few weeks after New Beginnings’ opening in 2009. In December, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) revisited his push for the District to move the juvenile detention center back within the borders of the city — of course, since the land was technically ceded to the District by Congress, there isn’t a whole lot anyone can do about it.