- Dozens of former juvenile inmates have filed a lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages for alleged sexual abuse they suffered in an Illinois jail.
- Thirteen women and 95 men have filed two lawsuits against the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice.
- The lawsuits include allegations that staff at various juvenile detention centers sexually assaulted inmates between 1997 and 2013.
Dozens of former juvenile inmates have also filed lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in damages for alleged sexual abuse they suffered in Illinois jails dating back to the late 1990s.
Thirteen women and 95 men filed two lawsuits in the Illinois Court of Claims against the state Department of Corrections and the state Department of Juvenile Justice on Friday. The plaintiffs are seeking $2 million in damages each, the maximum allowed by law.
The lawsuit is packed with shocking allegations that guards, teachers and counselors at several juvenile facilities across the state sexually assaulted inmates between 1997 and 2013. Often, the same perpetrators assaulted the same children for months at a time, sometimes in exchange for reduced sentences, snacks or extra free time in exchange for their silence, the lawsuit says.
Victims of child sexual abuse in Illinois jails speak out
Emails seeking comment sent to the two state agencies Monday morning were not immediately responded to.
An office building at 100 North Western Avenue in Chicago, which houses the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice offices, May 6, 2024. Dozens of former juvenile inmates have filed a lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages for alleged sexual abuse they suffered in Illinois detention centers dating back to the late 1990s. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
One female plaintiff claims she was 15 when she was held at the Warrenville Detention Center in 2012. A guard groped her under her clothes and on another occasion tried to rape her in a shower. He threatened to put her in solitary confinement if she told anyone. The woman further claims that another guard sexually assaulted her in a bathroom and gave her a Butterfinger candy bar.
The plaintiff claims he was 13 when he was detained at the St. Charles detention center in 1997. He claims two guards rewarded him with food, extra time outside his cell, and extra time watching TV for having sex with them. When he reported the abuse, the guards locked him in his cell as punishment. The plaintiff says he was transferred to two other detention centers, in Warrenville and Valley View. Guards at those centers also molested him.
The lawsuit notes that a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice study of incarcerated youth found Illinois to be among the four worst states in the nation for sexual abuse in detention facilities.
Lawyers for former juvenile inmates are filing similar lawsuits across the country.
Last month, they filed a lawsuit on behalf of 95 other former juvenile inmates who say they were sexually abused in Illinois juvenile detention centers between 1997 and 2017. The plaintiffs are also seeking $2 million each. In a statement responding to the lawsuit, the state Department of Justice said the incidents occurred under former department officials. The current administration takes the safety of youth seriously, and all allegations of staff misconduct are investigated by other agencies, including the State Police, the department said.
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The three Illinois lawsuits bring the total number of plaintiffs to more than 200.
“It is time for the state of Illinois to acknowledge responsibility for the systematic sexual abuse of children at the Illinois Youth Center,” said Jerome Block, one of the lawyers for the former inmates.
Lawyers for the inmates also filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania in May, alleging that 66 now-adult inmates were victimized by guards, nurses and supervisors at juvenile detention centers in the state. The Illinois and Pennsylvania lawsuits follow lawsuits in Maryland, Michigan and New York City.
Some cases went to trial or were settled, but arrests were rare.
In New Hampshire, more than 1,100 former inmates of the state’s juvenile detention centers have filed lawsuits since 2020 alleging physical or sexual abuse spanning six decades. The first lawsuit went to trial last month, with a jury awarding the plaintiffs $38 million in damages, though the amount remains in dispute. Eleven former state employees have been arrested, and more than 100 more have been named in lawsuits.
