CHICAGO– Sexual abuse of children in Illinois’ youth prisons was pervasive and systemic for decades, according to disturbing accounts in a lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women who were housed in the youth centers as children.
The lawsuit details alleged incidents of abuse between 1996 and 2017, including gang rape, forced oral sex, abuse and groping of children by corrections staff, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and others at nine youth centers. Many claimants said they were threatened or rewarded for keeping quiet.
“The state of Illinois has allowed a culture of abuse to flourish unabated in Illinois youth centers,” the 186-page complaint states.
The lawsuit, filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, follows similar harrowing allegations of child sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers in Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, California and New York City. Some cases have gone to trial or resulted in a settlement; arrests have been rare.
The Illinois lawsuit alleges the state’s failure to supervise, discipline, remove or investigate alleged abusers, allowing the abuse to continue. The complaint alleges that the abuse occurred at youth centers in locations across the state, including Chicago, Joliet, Harrisburg, Murphysboro and Warrenville. Several locations have now closed.
The lawsuit names the state of Illinois, the Department of Corrections and the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice as defendants. It is seeking damages of about $2 million per plaintiff, the highest amount allowed under the law.
Messages left for the governor’s office Monday and both corrections offices were not immediately returned.
The 95 plaintiffs are among hundreds of victims of sexual abuse in Illinois detention centers, said Jerome H. Block, an attorney who brought the case and expects to file more lawsuits. His firm has helped file lawsuits in Maryland, New Jersey and New York City.
“The same people who were entrusted with the safety of our clients when they were children were the ones who committed the sexual abuse,” Block said. “This is long-term institutionalized sexual abuse.”
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified or decide to tell their stories publicly.
Three of the 95 plaintiffs are named in the lawsuit, including Jeffery Christian of Maywood, who said it was important to come forward publicly because he thought it could help others who may be suffering in silence.
The 36-year-old man from a Chicago suburb said he was sexually abused in two different detention centers since he was 13, including by a counselor who groped and fondled him during counseling sessions.
Like many of the plaintiffs, Christian said the abuse was reported at the time, but facility administrators did nothing to address it. He said reporting the abuse made him more of a target. After the incidents he became withdrawn and antisocial.
“It prepared me to look at the world differently,” he said. “It cost me some light.”
At least six detention center employees were identified as alleged repeat offenders, with separate charges brought by different prosecutors. Some alleged perpetrators are named in the lawsuit, while others are identified only as prosecutors remembered them through physical characteristics, initials or nicknames. Most plaintiffs are identified in the complaint by their initials.
The complaint accuses, among other things, the state’s use of unconstitutional and systematic strip searches of sexual abuse.
“The State of Illinois has known of such abuse for decades and has nevertheless failed to protect its incarcerated youth from sexual abuse and has failed to implement policies necessary to ensure such protection,” the complaint states.
It cites a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice survey of incarcerated youth that found Illinois was one of the four worst states nationwide for sexual abuse in detention centers. It also reports about a half-dozen criminal cases between 2000 and 2021 in which youth center workers were convicted of sexually abusing children, and claims the abuse continues to this day.
In some of the more recent cases, criminal charges are not outside the realm of possibility. While there is no longer a statute of limitations for crimes related to sexual abuse of minors that occur after January 1, 2020, a 20-year limit remains in place for alleged crimes committed before then, allowing criminal prosecution in cases that would occur have occurred. already in 2004.
Many plaintiffs said their abusers threatened them with violence, solitary confinement, transfer to tougher facilities and longer sentences if they reported the abuse. Others received extra food, money in their accounts, the chance to play video games and other rewards for staying silent.
The plaintiffs ranged in age from 12 to 17 at the time they said they were abused, often while isolated in a bathroom, kitchen or in their cell. When inmates reported abuse, the lawsuit said it was laughed off, with a lieutenant saying, “He’s just playing around,” or a chaplain telling a 17-year-old boy he was allegedly fondling and angry, “This is what happened is going on. ” in the church.
They are adults now, the eldest is in her early forties. Most are men, but one of the detention centers was mixed. They come from small communities and big cities, mostly in Illinois. Several are from Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Texas.
“Children held in juvenile detention facilities are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse. That’s because the staff who work in these juvenile detention centers have complete control over these children,” Block said. “There is no way for these children to escape the abuse.”
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Associated Press writer John O’Connor contributed to this report from Springfield.