Nearly 200 brave survivors have come forward to demand justice after enduring childhood sex abuse at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center perpetrated by adult employees. Represented by Levy Konigsberg Attorneys Jerome Block, Jacob Jordan and co-counsel, nearly 200 survivors have filed sexual abuse lawsuits against Cook County and the State of Illinois. The lawsuits are filed for the sexual abuse these survivors suffered while confined at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, formerly known as the Audy Home, at the hands of Illinois and Cook County employees. The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center has faced years of scrutiny over inhumane conditions including failures to protect youth inmates from violence and sexual abuse perpetrated by staff.
Our legal team is leading the way in investigating sexual abuse claims from former juvenile detainees in Illinois, and we have been taking legal action using the Childhood Sexual Abuse Act as codified at 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2. The nearly 200 survivors who have filed clams so far include those who suffered sexual abuse as far back as the 1990s and up through as recently as this year. The plaintiffs, who are now adults, were sexually abused as children ranging from age 10 to 17.
According to the lawsuits, many different staff at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center were involved in sexual abuse, such as:
- Correctional/detention officers
- Counselors
- Parole officers
- Supervisors
- Teachers
- Medical staff
- And others
Cook County and the State of Illinois have done little to protect these children or to punish their abusers. It is this pattern of negligence that has prompted the filing of these lawsuits. Cook County and the State’s negligence in failing to stop the sexual abuse of children at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center is detailed in the complaint that was filed this week.
Leading the Way for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
The Childhood Sexual Abuse Act provides legal pathways for victims of this type of sexual abuse to pursue damages from their abusers and from the institutions that enabled the abuse by increasing the time in which survivors of sexual abuse are permitted to come forward and file civil lawsuits.
Levy Konigsberg and its team of dedicated trial attorneys are at the forefront of childhood sexual abuse litigation, having filed hundreds of lawsuits nationwide on behalf of survivors.
In announcing this week’s filings, Levy Konigsberg Partner Jerome Block stated:
“The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center has for decades been a house of horrors for children sexually abused there. This Cook County facility is one of the largest juvenile detention centers in the nation and has been repeatedly found to subject children to inhumane conditions. The State of Illinois and Cook County collectively failed to protect children and enabled this institutional sexual abuse. The perpetrators in these cases were adult correctional officers and other staff members who committed severe acts of sexual abuse against the very children they were entrusted with keeping safe. Sexual abuse that is this severe and widespread simply cannot occur without a culture of secrecy and institutional conduct that goes beyond negligence.”
Levy Konigsberg represents hundreds of survivors of sexual abuse at Illinois and Cook County juvenile detention facilities and plans to continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf.
Levy Konigsberg is a nationwide trial law firm with a proven track record of representing survivors of sexual abuse. We have the strength, size, and resources needed to file lawsuits against government agencies, religious groups, medical institutions, and more. If you want to know if you can file a claim for child sexual abuse that occurred at Illinois Juvenile Detention Centers, then speak with our team today.
Please call 800-315-3806 now and request a free, initial consultation with our firm.