CHICAGO (AP) — Child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades, according to disturbing accounts in a lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women housed at the youth centers as children.
The lawsuit details alleged incidents of abuse from 1996 to 2017, including gang rape, forced oral sex, beatings and groping of children by corrections officers, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and others at nine youth centers. Many plaintiffs said they were threatened or rewarded to keep quiet.
“The State of Illinois has allowed a culture of abuse at Illinois Youth Centers to flourish unabated,” the 186-page complaint said.
The lawsuit, filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, follows similar harrowing allegations of child sex abuse at juvenile detention centers in Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, California and New York City. Some cases have gone to trial or resulted in settlements; arrests have been infrequent.
Husband of Florida woman missing in Spain is charged with her disappearance
Fire at industrial building in Ōtaki
Roger William ‘living man’ Blake’s jail term over Covid ‘cure’ converted to home detention
Oscars 2024: Barbie's Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie miss key nominations
Turkey formally opens another former Byzantine
EDITORIAL: Japan makes security policy switch without public discourse
EDITORIAL: Diet behind the times in dealing with same
Two charged with murder in shooting at Super Bowl rally in Kansas City
California reports the first increase in groundwater supplies in 4 years
Japan unexpectedly slips into a recession
Harper homers, Wheeler strikes out 11 as Phillies complete 4
Government rejects Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's demands over rates, GST