The whole "melee" started with a kid talking on the phone too long who became violent when confronted by staff. It ended with 50 police units from Maryland and Pennsylvania responding to the facility, along with five police dogs and numerous off-duty staff and state administrators. According to the JJMU report, as the dozen or so enraged youth beat staff members with chairs and mop handles and forced their way through doors and fences, staff members and ambulance drivers fled the scene in fear for their lives. Youth residents who were not a part of the disturbance -- and not free to flee -- hid in their closets.

Fourteen male offenders escaped. Several staff members were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries, which included black eyes, an amputated finger, cuts and bruises. All of the escapees were captured in short order and have since been transferred to other facilities. So far, one has pleaded guilty to charges of "escape."

I pray all of these boys will find peace and healing for whatever neglect, trauma or error brought them to Victor Cullen in the first place. I also pray that each will be held accountable for his actions.

I also hope for accountability and leadership by state officials in the reform of the troubled system that deals with troubled youth in Maryland. The findings in the JJMU report are stark: Staff at Victor Cullen are not in control. The facility is understaffed, and staff are undertrained. The youth admitted are inappropriate for the facility's specialized treatment program, which is not designed for violent offenders or those with "borderline intellectual function." A significant number of the residents fall into these categories.

Why, then, are they being sentenced to Victor Cullen? Because there is nowhere else -- except to ship them out of state. More than 200 Maryland youths are incarcerated elsewhere because of a lack of appropriate in-state rehabilitation facilities.

In a July 28 commentary in The (Baltimore) Sun, Maryland Secretary of Juvenile Services Donald W. DeVore ignored the JJMU report, protested "recent sensationalized media reports about the Victor Cullen Center escape," and touted the great progress being made by DJS in "addressing long-standing issues that have plagued the department for decades."

I'm not seeing much progress.

What I am seeing is another O'Malley appointee riding in under a dark cloud and deflecting public criticism and official admonition, while problems continue to spiral out of control. DeVore came to us from Connecticut, where he was the subject of a petition signed by more than 250 state employees urging Gov. Jodi Rell to call for his resignation. According to news reports in The Hartford Courant and The (Baltimore) Sun, petitioners said DeVore "had worsened a situation of 'corruption and neglect' through a lack of programmatic and clinical direction for the care of troubled youth."

I guess he got away just in time. I pray that Mr. DeVore won't escape his responsibilities so easily this time.