Resident Of Snoqualmie Juvenile Facility Briefly Escapes

SNOQUALMIE, WA —A teenage resident of a juvenile detention center in Snoqualmie briefly escaped from the facility on Wednesday evening, but was quickly apprehended, according to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF).

According to the agency, a 16-year-old male briefly got out of Echo Glen Children's Center campus by climbing through a gap in a 10-foot to 12-foot tall fenced enclosure.

The King's County Sheriff's Department was contacted, according to DCYF, and deputies found and apprehended the youth within approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes.

DCYF said the youth who escaped was in the facility on charges that were not violent in nature.

"We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their swift response and apprehension of the youth," said Rebecca Kelly, senior manager of juvenile rehabilitation.

The facility said no staff members or residents were injured in the incident, and that the resident who briefly escaped currently is being evaluated.

This escape comes just a few months after a Jan. 26 incident in which five teens escaped from the facility by overpowering and assaulting staffers before leaving the premises in a state-owned vehicle.

All five were later captured, though the last one was apprehended on March 14.

After the January incident, officials from the DCYF said the facility was implementing several security upgrades, including: requiring that maximum security residents wear bright uniforms, replacing on-site vehicles with electric carts, establishing a single point of entry for the facility, increasing security rounds and upgrading video surveillance systems.

Echo Glen Children's Center is home to DCYF's youngest juvenile rehabilitation population, with children housed there up until the age of 17.