Escapes by teens at Echo Glen Children’s Center date back to 1960s
Seven teens escaped from Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie Sunday, another in a history of escapes from the facility.
Echo Glen opened Jan. 4, 1967, replacing facilities of the old Martha Washington and Luther Burbank schools in Seattle.
According to a Tacoma News Tribune article from 1966, when its doors opened, there was space for 208 children, among 13 “cottage type living units,” each holding 16 children.
Boys and girls were set to be housed there, among about 100 employees.
By 2023, according to the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families (WSCYDF), the facility holds about 80 boys and 24 girls now.
Within six months of its opening in 1967, the first escape occurred when a female teen escaped with her friends. All three were caught and she was returned.
On Aug. 7, 1967, just two months later, two girls (13 and 14) set fire to a room as part of a planned escape attempt with two other girls.
In April 1976, three teens escaped after hitting a counselor in the head with a croquet mallet. Two of the teens (14 & 15) were found by Seattle police.
In 1984 there were two unrelated escapes on Mar. 27, 1984. The first teen escaped into the woods on the same day he arrived and was recaptured without incident.
The second teen allegedly shot a counselor in the chest and escaped for nine hours before turning himself in.
According to The Columbian, those two escapes were the fifth and sixth escapes of 1984. Echo Glen had approximately 40 escapes in 1983.
In May 1984, due to the recent escapes the community of Preston demanded a fence be built around Echo Glen. State Rep. Mike Patrick said he would find $3 million in the state budget to build a fence. He didn’t.
By 1986, workers at the state’s five juvenile facilities were asking for more effective tactics to combat the rising number of attacks by inmates on staff members.
According to The Spokesman Review, in 1982 an inmate clubbed a detention center counselor to death. In 1985, a staff member was punched in the face repeatedly at Green Hill School in Chehalis. In 1986, a staff member - also at Green Hill - attempted to break up a fight and suffered a bruised heart muscle.
In 1995, two teen girls - one a convicted murderer - ran into the woods during a nature hike at Echo Glen. They were found in North Bend the next morning.
In Mar. 2008, a teenage sex offender escaped after being at the facility for only eight days. He was found late the next day.
In Sept. 22, 2012, six teens planned an escape. Several packed bags and another stuffed his bed to make it look like he was there. They knocked a staff member unconscious, locked her in a room, and fled. They were caught a few hours later.
In Sept. 2013, a teenage boy escaped, causing a nearby school to go into lockdown. He was found days later.
In Dec. 2018, two teens - one a convicted murderer - escaped and were back in custody a short time later.
On Jan. 26, 2022, five teens escaped - including one with a murder conviction - after strong-arming several staff members and stealing a car.
That escape led to an announcement in Feb. 2022 of “major security changes” coming to the facility.
In April 2022, an inmate jumped the fence and was found almost two hours later near the Snoqualmie Valley YMCA.
According to the WSDCYF, $4.5 million in funding for a fence was approved by the Washington State Legislature in April and will become available in July.
For security reasons, WSDCYF would not go into details about current security systems, just that they would be “hardened.”
