Overview
- Dozens of detained youths fought inside Horizon Juvenile Center on Sunday, and police and FDNY responded after staff said some residents used contraband surgical scalpels; officials reported 11 people were injured and none had life-threatening wounds.
- The Administration for Children's Services said the facility was secured and the situation resolved after the evening violence and that youth and staff safety remain a top priority.
- Cellphone video and on-scene accounts show bloodied staff being helped into ambulances and frightened parents rushing to the Mott Haven facility to check on relatives.
- Union and facility sources raised concerns about overcrowding, low staffing levels, broken fixtures that can be turned into weapons, and whether metal detectors and searches failed to stop contraband.
- Investigators are probing how improvised blades entered a secure detention site that bans weapons and are weighing criminal charges and internal disciplinary or policy changes while city officials say additional staff have been deployed.