JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Senator Audrey Gibson and the secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice toured the Duval Academy Wednesday.
Three escapes from the facility in the last nine months -- last week after a joint investigation, YSI, the company that runs the Duval Academy, suspended new admissions.
In January, two groups of teens, on separate days, broke out through a fence.
Just last week Action News Jax learned of a third escape, this one in October.
Gibson vowed to tour the low-risk juvenile resident facility. On Wednesday, Gibson did just that.
Gibson said a teen got out through a different section of a fence in the back of the property in the October escape.
Since the escapes, YSI has made changes.
“Staff has changed, training has increased and the number of kids being received has diminished,” A YSI representative said.
YSI also said they added a new perimeter fence to the facility.
The company installed an orange fence made from a nylon-webbed material, those often found at construction sites.
“Webbing is not going to keep anyone from leaving," Gibson said.
YSI has received a warning from Gibson and other lawmakers -- keep the teens in your charge safe, or lose taxpayer funding.
Gibson said the secretary of the DJJ will appear before the criminal justice committee to talk about policy and oversight.
Duval Academy new admissions will remain suspended until it can prove it can handle more than the 20 teenagers who currently live there.
WJAX
