Jacksonville police are looking for six juvenile offenders who escaped from a Westside detention program over the weekend. A seventh teenager was caught today and charged with escape.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says police caught one of the escapees near the corner of Lane and Commonwealth Avenues on Jacksonville’s Westside. He and the six boys still at large live at Duval Academy, a residential corrections center for nonviolent offenders ages 14 to 18. Five escaped from the facility, located west of I-295 just north of the Duval-Clay border. Two more left from an adjacent recreational field.
The Department of Juvenile Justice is questioning Duval Academy’s operator, Youth Services International. Last year, the department ended a contract with the company over safety concerns at a youth facility in the Panhandle. Youth Services International is challenging the closure in administrative court.
