NEW
YORK, July 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Levy Konigsberg and co-counsel filed lawsuits on Monday on
behalf of nearly 200 survivors of sexual abuse against Cook County and the State of Illinois. The lawsuits
allege that the Cook
County and the State failed to protect children from rampant
sexual abuse perpetrated by adult employees at the Cook County
Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. These lawsuits are the latest
in a string of juvenile detention abuse lawsuits spearheaded by
Levy Konigsberg along with its co-counsel across the State of Illinois and the United States.
The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) has
faced years of scrutiny over inhumane conditions and failures to
protect youth inmates from violence and sexual abuse perpetrated by
staff at the JTDC. As a result of chronic mismanagement, patronage,
overcrowding, and inadequate supervision, JTDC has maintained an
environment of violence, fear, and sexual abuse for many decades.
As recently as 2022, a committee convened by the Office of the
Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook
County reported the "harsh reality that JTDC youth are
locked in their cells for most of the day, every day…. No parent
would be allowed to do this to their child."
The suits filed by Levy Konigsberg were brought under the
recently amended Childhood Sexual Abuse Act as codified at 735 ILCS
5/13-202.2. 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.
The Survivors who have filed clams so far include those who
suffered sexual abuse as far back as the 1990s and up through
recent years. The plaintiffs, who are now adults, were sexually
abused as children ranging from age 9 to 17. The perpetrators of
the sexual abuse were supervisors, correctional officers,
counselors, supervisors and other staff.
In announcing Monday's lawsuits filed against the State of Illinois and Cook County, 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 has filed more than a thousand lawsuits on
behalf of survivors of sexual abuse nationwide and is at the
forefront of litigation in New York, Maryland, New
Jersey, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and other states.
Levy Konigsberg represents hundreds of survivors of childhood
sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention facilities
and plans to continue fighting tirelessly on their behalf.
For additional information about Illinois juvenile detention center sex abuse
lawsuits spearheaded by Levy Konigsberg, and its co-counsel,
media members and journalists are encouraged to reach out to
Attorney Jerome Block by using the
law firm's contact
form: https://www.levylaw.com/contact-us/
Media Contact: Attorney Jerome
Block; Jblock@levylaw.com
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SOURCE Levy Konigsberg