Hundreds of people are suing over alleged sexual abuse at Illinois youth detention centers

CHICAGO (AP) — More than 200 men and women were sexually abused as children while incarcerated in Illinois juvenile detention centers, according to lawsuits filed Monday, the latest in a series of complaints alleging decades of systemic sexual abuse of children.

Three lawsuits filed Monday detail abuse from 1996 to 2021, including rape, forced oral sex and beatings by corrections officers, nurses, kitchen staff, chaplains and others.

“The State of Illinois has caused and allowed a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated in its facilities at the Illinois Youth Center,” the lawsuit said, adding that Illinois “overwhelmingly failed to investigate complaints, to report abusive staff and protect young inmates”.

In all, 667 people alleged they were sexually abused as children at state and Cook County youth facilities in lawsuits filed since May.

They are part of a wave of complaints with disturbing allegations at juvenile facilities across the US, including in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, California and New York. Few cases went to trial or resulted in settlements; arrests were rare.

Illinois stands out for the scale of its problem.

“Of all the states we’ve litigated, we’re seeing some of the worst and largest staff sexual abuse cases of anywhere in the country,” said Jerome Block, a New York attorney whose office brought lawsuits in Illinois and several other states.

Monday’s complaints, based on the accounts of 272 people, name multiple repeat offenders. Several have been convicted of sex crimes, but not stemming from the charges in the trials. At least one employee accused in a lawsuit filed Monday still works for the state, according to state records.

The lawsuit by the largest number of plaintiffs, 222 men and women who are mostly Illinois residents, details abuses at nine state-run youth detention centers, five of which have since been closed. The accounts documented in the more than 400 pages of the complaint are eerily similar.

Many said their abusers threatened them with beatings, solitary confinement, transfers to harsher institutions and longer sentences if they reported the abuse. Others were given extra food, cigarettes and rewards such as the chance to play video games if they kept quiet.

Most abusers are identified only as survivors remember them, including physical descriptions, first names, or nicknames.

Several plaintiffs independently described sexual and physical abuse by a chaplain at a state facility in suburban St. Charles from Chicago.

The chaplain would isolate the children — including in the church office, their rooms or the gym — before forcing oral sex and other abuse, according to the lawsuit. In one instance, he told a teenager that “his friends ‘wouldn’t look at him the same way’ if they knew.”

Most of the accusers are identified by their initials in the complaints, although a few have come forward publicly. A news conference with survivors was planned for Tuesday.

The lawsuit covering the state-run facilities names the state and the Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice as defendants. A spokesman for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker declined to comment Monday, citing pending litigation. State agency officials did not immediately return requests for comment Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, seeks about $2 million in damages per plaintiff, the most allowed by law.

Another lawsuit, focused on a detention center for troubled youth in Chicago, was filed in Cook County court and names the county.

It covers the allegations of 50 men and women who were in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center. Many cases of abuse are said to have occurred during illegal searches.

The children were just 11 years old when they were abused, according to the lawsuit, which seeks more than $100,000 in damages per plaintiff. Some of the 50 plaintiffs are seeking more damages in a third lawsuit filed Monday in the Illinois Court of Claims.

The juvenile detention center, where children are held before their cases go to trial, has been in trouble for years and is calling for closure. A 1999 class-action lawsuit alleged a lack of medical care, filthy conditions, overcrowding, understaffing and excessive use of room confinement. In 2007, state law stripped the county of authority to run the center and gave it to the Office of the Chief Judge.

One person said he was 15 when he was sexually abused almost every night during his 90-day stay.

“Cook County has been aware of such abuse for decades and yet has neglected to protect its youth from sexual abuse and has failed to implement the policies necessary to ensure such protection,” the suit says. “Furthermore, he employed individuals he knew or should have known would sexually abuse minors in his care and custody.”

Officials with the Office of the Chief Judge and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle declined to comment Monday, citing pending litigation.

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