NATCHEZ &045; Local law enforcement officers are still on the lookout for two of three Juvenile Justice Center inmates who attacked officers Saturday and escaped from the facility.

The third inmate immediately turned himself in to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

The three teenage males overpowered two detention officers around noon, a male and a female, assaulted them, took their keys and escaped, jail Administrator Glenn Arnold said.

The officers were not seriously hurt.

Arnold said all three inmates had spent time in the facility before and never caused trouble.

&uot;We let one guy go for a job interview,&uot; he said. &uot;We do everything we can to try to put the kids on the right track, but some of them just don’t want to go in the right direction.&uot;

The facility is a less-than-minimum security prison that employees 10 detention officers who work on four different shifts.

&uot;Sometimes the inmates that are in here are not minimum security,&uot; Arnold said. &uot;We just have to do the best we can.&uot;

He said escapes have happened in the past, always preceded by an attack on the officers. Escapes like Saturday’s only happen about once a year, though, he said.

Officers frequently enter the cells to deliver food and other items. The cells don’t have the same security features that cells in the county or city jails offer. Officers always enter cells in groups of two.

The facility has one secure cell that can be used for possibly violent criminals, but Arnold said the three inmates had given no indication of trouble.