COLUMBIA, Tenn. - For the second time in less than a month, two young women have escaped from Rescare's Magnolia Academy.
The privately run facility serves as a "therapeutic treatment center" for juveniles.
Over the weekend, Alexandria DePriest and Anastasia Alexander used a stolen van to run away from the Maury County facility.
The same two teens escaped last month.
In the last two years, more than two dozen teens have run from Magnolia Academy.
We asked the Executive Director why it's such a problem.
Steve Saunders told us, in part, that the Academy is a therapeutic facility and not a detention center and staff members cannot physically stop them.
Saunders also said quote:
Sometimes [the children] see running away as a solution to the issues they're dealing with. We have protocols in place to prevent it from happening and we work very closely with the police after it occurs.
If a child is intent on running away, sometimes it is very difficult to stop them.
