Survivors sue Illinois over decades of sexual abuse at youth detention center

CHICAGO — Temarkus Washington says the sexual abuse he experienced as a teenager at a troubled Chicago youth detention center still gives him nightmares.

The 35-year-old spoke publicly about his experiences on Tuesday, a day after joining two lawsuits collecting dozens of abuse allegations at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, one of the largest centers of its kind nationwide. The lawsuits, filed on Monday on behalf of 193 men and women, detail unsettling accusations of rape, unlawful strip searches and other sexual abuse by adult employees of the detention center from 1995 until 2022.

"It's actually not something that I like to talk about or even think about. I did what I had to do to survive in there," Washington said at a Chicago news conference alongside other survivors. "I am here because I want to feel confident in myself again. For so long I doubted myself and felt so scared."

The allegations are the latest in Illinois, where two similar lawsuits were filed recently in the Illinois Court of Claims. In total, the accounts of nearly 400 survivors have been documented in court. Attorneys say they expect to file more lawsuits in the coming months.

"This has happened over and over again," said attorney Todd Mathews, who has helped bring the Illinois cases. "This is still going on. It has to stop and this is the way it is going to stop."

The Illinois lawsuits allege that sexual abuse at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center was pervasive. The victims were between 9 and 17 years old.

"As a result of chronic mismanagement, patronage, overcrowding and inadequate supervision, JTDC has been an environment of violence, fear and sexual abuse for decades," one of the lawsuits stated.

The allegations, spanning more than 500 pages between the two lawsuits, are hauntingly similar.

The children were often isolated in their rooms or bathrooms when the abuse took place, according to the lawsuits. Many plaintiffs said their abusers threatened them with violence or additional time at the facility if they reported the abuse. Others were given extra food and other rewards if they kept silent.

"The State of Illinois has caused and permitted a culture of sexual abuse to flourish unabated at JTDC," one of the lawsuits said.

The lawsuits seek damages of roughly $2 million per plaintiff, the most allowed under law.

Phillip Goodwin, 24, also spoke out on Tuesday, saying he hopes that coming forward about the abuse he experienced will help others. The Chicago man said the abuse happened about 10 years ago and that until recently he had been embarrassed by it.

"Talking about my abuse feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders," he said. "I could finally get that anger that I carried."

Agencies via Xinhua