Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson wants a "full and complete investigation" into the escape of four juvenile offenders from the Egg Harbor City center that houses them.
The county owns the building at 800 Buffalo Ave., which is contracted to the state that runs the program.
"I'm extremely disturbed by this," Levinson told BreakingAC. "I'm absolutely furious over what occurred here and expect it to be rectified immediately."
Stephine Woodley, Raymir Lampkin, Donovan Nickerson and Michael Huggins escaped just after midnight Wednesday, after attacking one of two corrections officers at the facility.
In recording of the 911 call obtained by NBC-10's Ted Greenberg, a corrections officer tells the operator that her co-worker is being attacked and bleeding, and that two inmates are trying to get loose. They were the only two officers on at that time, according to the call.
https://www.facebook.com/ted.greenberg.902/videos/752221301639747/
Woodley, Lampkin and Nickerson were all apprehended in Bridgeton hours later. Huggins, 18, who is charged as an adult in a 2016 homicide, was arrested in Atlantic City on Thursday morning.
He was in possession of a handgun at that time. It was not a service weapon. Corrections officers do not carry guns.
Although charged as an adult, because Huggins was a juvenile at the time of the killing, a statute allowed him to remain at Harborfields.
That statute needs to be revisited, Levinson said.
He was also concerned that the escape now brings the whole program into question.
DENNIS LEVINSON
"It has been a success," he said of Harborfields, which allows juvenile offenders to get their education and assistance as their cases work through the juvenile justice system.
"They're not going to be incarcerated forever," Levinson said. "They're going to be free at some point. While we have them as a captive audience, we should do the best we can to correct their behavior."
But he said he is troubled by what appears to be a lapse in security.
The facility houses juveniles charged in Atlantic, Cape, Cumberland and Salem counties. There were eight inmates at the time the four fled.
The escape was planned, according to Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner, who said Huggins, the only inmate of age, is charged with conspiracy. He would not comment on the other three, since they are juveniles.
But, Levinson points out, it doesn't appear to have been a particularly complex escape.
Instead, the four overcame a corrections officer, beat him, stole his keys and left in his personal vehicle.
The escape is under investigation, said Sharon Lauchaire, of the Juvenile Justice Commission.
"I understand there are videos," Levinson said.
He wants the findings to be made public, but can't guarantee that full disclosure will be allowed due to the rights of the workers.
"The public has a right to know," he said. "But the corrections officers have rights as well."
