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It was a ticking timebomb.
A massive riot at an overcrowded Bronx juvenile detention center left more than a dozen staffers and youths injured — and exposed ongoing problems at Big Apple youth facilities, The Post has learned.
The NYPD was twice turned away at the door by staffers at the Horizons Juvenile Center during the outbreak on June 21, allowing both employees and facility residents to be slashed and beaten for hours before the melee was brought under control, sources and union officials said.
The violent outburst comes after years of warnings from critics that soft-on-crime state laws had turned the Big Apple’s youth detention facilities into a powder keg.
“The melee started at 4:49 p.m. when one unit was being escorted back to their unit from the courtyard,” according to one source. “Three other units — one was already opened without clearance — heard them in the hallway. Staff were assaulted and keys taken, and residents of these units ran out and started attacking each other and also staff members.
“One staff member was pushed up against a glass area with a knife held to her face,” the source said. “Another on the floor had an asthma attack with residents taunting her that she’s going to die.”
New York’s Finest were dispatched to the troubled facility at 5:25 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to quell the unrest — but staffers from the city Administration for Children’s Services locked them out both times, allowing the violence to continue, union officials confirmed.
“The injuries sustained by staff included dislocated shoulders, head trauma, neck injuries, back injuries, knee injuries and deep lacerations requiring stitches,” said Darek Robinson, vice president of grievance and legal services for Local 371 of the Social Service Employees Union .
“This incident did not occur without warning,” he said in a statement. “For several weeks leading up to the riot, there were multiple assaults on supervisors and staff involving attempts by residents to seize facility keys.”
Robinson said 187 troubled youngsters were crammed into the 125-bed facility at the time.
The violent outburst comes as the city continues to struggle to control older and more violent residents at two overcrowded and understaffed juvenile detention centers — Horizons and Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn — thanks to a troubling change in state law.
The Post revealed in 2024 that the soft-on-crime “Raise the Age” law was allowing suspects as old as 21 to be housed with younger alleged delinquents — a recipe for trouble.
The controversial statute, which was implemented in two stages in 2017 and 2018, raised the age of criminal responsibility in the state to 18, and allowed for criminal defendants to remain in juvenile facilities as old as the age of 21.
Before, suspects as young as 16 could be automatically tried in adult criminal court.
A 2024 city Department of Investigation report determined that the resident population at the two detention facilities jumped from a manageable 52 in April 2018 to a 237 in May 2023.
A rep for ACS said Sunday that a total of seven residents and eight staffers were treated at the hospital following a brawl between two groups at the facility.
“The situation at Horizon Juvenile Center was resolved and the facility is secured,” the spokesperson said. “The safety and security of young people and staff in our secure detention facilities is our top priority.
“We greatly appreciate the efforts made by our dedicated staff, including those who helped de-escalate the situation,” the statement said.
The rep said the agency has beefed up staffing and security, stepping up efforts to keep contraband out of the facility and holding misbehaving residents more accountable.
However, claims of mismanagement and even corruption continue to dog the two facilities.
A confidential whistleblower report reviewed by The Post alleges that staffers allow some contraband to enter the detention centers, and charged that sexual abuse and favoritism exist behind the walls.
Workers who try to report misconduct are targeted for retaliation, the report claimed.
In addition, Horizon staffers purchased 100 water pistols for residents there, a questionable move given that most of those held at the facility face gun-related charges, the report said.
Meanwhile, the SSEU wants an investigation.
“The union is calling for a full and independent investigation into the June 21 riot, an immediate review of security protocols, accountability for all criminal acts committed during the disturbance, and urgent measures to address overcrowding and staff safety,” Robinson said.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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