Photo by Travis Pratt Authorities respond to the Victor Cullen Center after a fight broke out among juveniles at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. About a dozen juveniles escaped the facility, Maryland State Police Cpl. Vinson Smith said.

By 8:45 p.m., all were in back in custody, Spokeswoman Tammy Brown said. Seven people were injured.

The juveniles left their cottages, Brown said. Ten were found almost immediately in a maintenance building; four others were found less than a quarter mile away. Six staff members and one resident suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital.

Brown said she did not know how the escape occurred, and that the events leading up to the escape were under investigation.

Nearly a year ago, two teens were captured within days of escaping from the center.

On June 16, 2008, a 16-year-old and a 14-year-old escaped after assaulting a staff member and scaling a razor wire fence surrounding the facility.

The 14-year-old was captured two days later in Prince George's County. The 16-year-old was captured June 20 in Baltimore.

The juvenile detention center reopened in July 2007 after being closed for more than five years. It has a capacity of 48 boys.

Before it closed in 2002 amid allegations of abuse, the state-owned, privately maintained campus housed more than 200 juvenile offenders.

At the time of the reopening, a state spokeswoman said security was improved at the center with the addition of a no-climb mesh security fence and camera and alarm systems. If an offender escapes, area residents are to receive an automated phone call alerting them.