For the second time in as many months, youth inmates were able to escape from Washington, D.C.'s New Beginnings Youth Center near Fort Meade.

The escape of six teenagers from the facility that replaced Oak Hill comes just over a month after one youth escaped from the $46 million state-of-the-art facility on the same weekend in which it opened.

According to Reggie Sanders, a spokesman for D.C.'s Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services, the breakout occurred at around 2 p.m. on July 5. The youths were quickly apprehended, but Sanders said he could not provide any information as to how the escape happened.

The escape has at least one county official renewing his objections to the facility's location.

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold, in a letter to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, said he believes that the youth inmates should be relocated "to a facility within their own neighborhood."

Until that happens, Leopold requested in his letter that the mayor's office brief county officials on how New Beginnings plans to improve its security apparatus and protocols.

"Citizens must have confidence that a juvenile justice facility not subject to supervision by Maryland authorities is properly monitored and has sufficient security to deter escapes," he said.

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