Lawsuits Claim Nearly 200 Children Were Sexually Abused At Juvenile Detention Center in Illinois

Systemic problems at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center are blamed for creating a culture that forced child sexual abuse victims into silence

Nearly 200 men and women have filed a lawsuit indicating they suffered sexual abuse as children in a juvenile detention center in Cook County, Illinois, indicating that the state failed to protect the plaintiffs while they were wards of the state.

The complaint was brought in the Cook County Circuit Court on Monday, naming Cook County and the State of Illinois as defendants, seeking damages on behalf of 156 former male prisoners and 37 former female prisoners who were held at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, formerly known as the Arthur J. Audy Home, between 1995 and 2022.

The juvenile detention center lawsuit is one of several filed this year involving problems at Illinois youth facilities, alleging that employees either participated in, or ignored, sexual abuse of children during that time period. Including this latest filing, nearly 400 former child inmates have leveled similar charges against the state and Cook County.

Illinois extended the statute of limitations for civil child sexual abuse lawsuits in 2014, long before the recent wave of new state laws, allowing survivors of childhood sexual assault to pursue lawsuits against abusers or entities responsible for enabling the conduct for up to 20 years after the incidents occurred.

Audy Home Detention Center Abuse Claims

This latest complaint indicates all of the plaintiffs were between the ages of 9 and 17 when they experienced sexual abuse while detained at the Audy Home.

Plaintiffs allege that male and female staff members committed widespread sexual abuse, rapes and assaults on the children held in the Illinois juvenile detention facility, while the state failed in its oversight duties and silenced victims through its policies and reactions to claims of abuse.

This allowed the abuse to continue for decades, the lawsuit claims, and there are concerns that such problems may still be ongoing at the juvenile detention center.

In addition to calling for financial compensation for the plaintiffs, the lawsuit also calls for the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, which is still in operation, to be shut down.

Juvenile Justice Child Abuse Lawsuits

Illinois is not the only state facing child sexual abuse lawsuits claiming government organizations failed to protect children under their care from abuse.

In recent years, a number of states altered their statute of limitations laws to allow the filing of child sexual abuse lawsuits involving incidents that often occurred many decades earlier. As a result, there has been a sharp increase in the number of lawsuits filed against state juvenile justice systems nationwide, by former inmates who say they were put through horrific abuses in those facilities as children.

The juvenile detention center sexual abuse lawsuits claim that children were subject to rape, exploitation and torture, while state employees looked on, participated, or ignored the children’s cries for help and mercy.

Child sexual assault civil litigation has increased since new laws and measures were enacted in several states in recent years, where statute of limitations deadlines have been entirely removed, or “windows” have been opened for older survivors to now come forward and pursue civil claims against their abusers or entities that enabled the conduct.

In addition to claims against government entities, similar lawsuits have also been filed against large private institutions, like the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America. As a result of mounting liability for failing to prevent priests from abusing children, numerous Catholic Archdioceses have declared bankruptcy in recent years. The Boy Scouts also declared bankruptcy in 2020, and now plans to emerge from Chapter 11 protections after agreeing to a $2.4 billion child abuse settlement agreement last year.