12 ‘BAD BOYS’ ESCAPE

According to reports, at around 4 pm on Tuesday officials at the home reported the boys missing as none of them could be found in their rooms.

Officers of the Western Division responded to the reports and carried out an intense search of the area and visited the last recorded homes of the boys. Newsday understands that searches for the boys continued up until yesterday morning, however inclement weather prevented the officers from continuing their search.

The boys who are in their late teens were placed at the home for a variety of offenses, including robbery with one of the escapees being brought to the home for his involvement in the robbery and murder of former soldier Calvert Dexter James on J’ouvert morning, this year. The boys regarded as “troubled” and “bad” are believed to have escaped using a large ravine behind the home, from which they could have accessed a number of different streets within the Diego Martin area. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Diego Martin resident, ‘Marcus’ said that residents in the area have been terrorised by the boys in the past, as several homes have been broken into and vandalised. He says that despite calls for greater security measures at the home, nothing has been done to ensure the safety of residents adding that the escape should serve as a ‘wake up call’ to those in authority to finally take their pleas seriously.

“The home doesn’t have the adequate manpower to prevent things like this from happening.

For months now these boys have been using that canal at the back of the home to come out into the neighborhood and do all kinds of mischief and each time we call for more security at the home we are being ignored. For too long the authorities have been using the home as a remand facility for juvenile offenders and this needs to stop now.” Newsday visited the home and spoke to a security officer on duty, who explained that while staff could advise the boys not to leave the home, they were instructed not to physically prevent the boys from leaving the compound.

“It’s a difficult situation that we are in because they (staff) are telling us that we can’t stop them from leaving and that we also can’t subdue or to reprimand the boys if they misbehave so our hands are effectively tied right now.” All calls to the home have gone unanswered.