Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died January 23, 2007 after being restrained at Bowling Brook Prepatory School in Maryland. Isaiah's mother and daughter.

(AP) CARROLL COUNTY, Md. At least four youths at a private residential school for juvenile offenders have independently told their lawyers that they watched as Isaiah Simmons suffered an excruciating death at the Carroll County facility, Maryland's chief public defender said.

Simmons, 17, died Tuesday during a struggle with staff at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

According to chief public defender Nancy Forster, youths at Bowling Brook watched as staffers sat on Simmons for three hours until he passed out and died. One youth, Ronnell Williams, confirmed that account to The (Baltimore) Sun Friday evening.

"Four or five guys" held Simmons to the ground for more than two hours, and Simmons cried out several times that he couldn't breathe, Williams told The Sun. "We watched a guy die."

Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon ordered Williams released into his mother's custody late Friday. Two other youths were also ordered removed from Bowling Brook in response to an emergency request by public defenders.

The emergency hearings will continue next week across the state, said Foster, who wants all of her office's clients at the school to have their cases reviewed in juvenile court. "We want our children out of there," she said.

The death of Simmons, 17, remains under investigation by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. According to the office, staff at Bowling Brook said Simmons collapsed Tuesday evening while being restrained after an outburst. It was the first death of a youth in the custody of juvenile services since 2001.

Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services has a contract with Bowling Brook to educate juveniles in trouble with the law. Of the 170 students at the school on Tuesday, 74 were sent there by the department, said Edward Hopkins, a juvenile services spokesman.

Department of Juvenile Services staffers are providing indefinite 24-hour supervision inside the school, Hopkins said.

Simmons was in the department's custody after a juvenile court effectively found him guilty of armed robbery. He had entered Bowling Brook two weeks before his death.

Williams told The Sun that Simmons was having a hard time adjusting to the program. On Tuesday afternoon, Simmons said, "I'm going to spaz out," and had a disobedient outburst before school counselors, according to Williams. "He couldn't deal with the pressure," Williams said.

Bowling Brook has been in operation for decades and has drawn few complaints from youth advocates, who expressed surprise at Simmons' death. "My experience with Bowling Brook had always been that it's a great program," said Susan B. Leviton, who directs the juvenile law clinic at the University of Maryland. "When you (visited) Bowling Brook, every kid was involved in sports, they were going to school, they were keeping facilities clean. It was a very active and engaged place."