Survivors' lawyers say Illinois has one of nation's worst records on sex
abuse in juvenile detention
[July 17, 2025]
By SOPHIA TAREEN
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois has one of the nation’s worst problems with
child sex abuse at juvenile detention centers, attorneys representing
more than 900 survivors who have filed lawsuits said Wednesday.
Dozens of complaints, including several filed this week in Chicago,
allege decades of systemic abuse of children by the employees of
detention facilities. Similar lawsuits have popped up in states
including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, but Illinois stands out
for the volume of cases that began piling up last year and the
lackluster response from state leaders, according to attorneys.
“The scale and the magnitude and the severity of these cases are some of
the worst we’ve seen all over the United States,” Jerome Block, an
attorney who has filed lawsuits nationwide, said at a news conference.
The latest Illinois complaints, filed Tuesday, represent 107 people who
experienced abuse as children at 10 centers statewide. Some have since
closed. The lawsuits allege abuse from the mid-1990s to 2018, including
rape, forced masturbation and beatings by chaplains, counselors,
officers and kitchen supervisors.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were
sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to
tell their stories publicly, as some who have filed lawsuits have done.
Most plaintiffs are identified by initials in the lawsuits.
Survivor Kate-Lynn, who appeared at a Chicago news conference, said she
only felt comfortable speaking publicly using her first name. The
Illinois woman, now 26, said she was held in solitary confinement at a
suburban Chicago facility for a year when she was 14. She said she was
sexually and physically abused by at least five staff members who came
into her cell and stripped her naked.
As she spoke, a fellow survivor who also planned to speak became
overcome with emotion and left the room. He didn't return.
Kate-Lynn said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress
disorder and anxiety.
“Going to public places is very hard for me,” she said, wiping tears at
times. “I feel like I 'm going to be attacked when dealing with
authority figures."
The lawsuits, first filed in May 2024, and they are slowly making their
way through the courts.
Two lawsuits against the state — representing 83 people — were filed in
the Illinois Court of Claims and seek damages of roughly $2 million per
plaintiff, the most allowed under law. Separate lawsuits representing 24
people held as children at a Chicago center, were filed in Cook County
and seek more than $100,000 per plaintiff.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who represents the state, has
tried to dismiss the cases in court.
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Jerome Block, partner, Levy & Konigsberg LLP, right, talks to media
as attorney Kristen Feden, 1st left, listens to him during a news
conference in Chicago, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y.
Huh
Raoul, whose office has investigated church sex abuse cases,
declined to comment Wednesday as did officials with the Department
of Juvenile Justice and Cook County. The lawsuits also name the
state of Illinois and the Department of Corrections. Officials for
the governor's office and Corrections did not return messages
Wednesday.
While the number of lawsuits grows, few cases have gone to trial or
resulted in settlements. Arrests are infrequent.
Many alleged offenders are not named in the lawsuits, represented by
initials or physical descriptions as the plaintiffs remembered them.
There are several alleged repeat offenders, including a corrections
officer who currently serves as a small-town Illinois mayor and was
accused separately by 15 people. He has denied the allegations.
Attorneys have called for legislative hearings, outside monitors,
victim input and criminal charges by local authorities. Block has
also harshly criticized Illinois leaders, including Raoul, saying
there is a double standard for the abuse victims juvenile detention
centers versus church abuse victims.
“When it's the state who perpetrated the abuse, when it's state
employees who perpetrated the abuse rather than Catholic priests,
the attorney general doesn't want to support the survivors,” he
said.
Horrific accounts are detailed in the hundreds of pages of
complaints. Many plaintiffs said their abusers threatened them with
violence, solitary confinement and longer sentences if they reported
the abuse. Others were given fast food, candy, cigarettes or the
chance to play videos games if they kept quiet.
Another survivor, a 40-year-old Texas man identified in the lawsuit
by the initials J.B. 2, said he was abused when he was 14 years old
and staying a facility in St. Charles, which is outside Chicago. He
issued a statement through attorneys.
“I want to let my fellow survivors know that we are not alone in
this,” he wrote. “Speaking your truth, no matter how gruesome it is,
it can help to set you free from yourself and all the hurt that's
been bottled up.”
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