Dozens of kids sexually abused at Pa. juvenile detention centers: lawsuit
Dozens of children were subjected to sexual and physical abuse when they were confined to juvenile detention centers and similar facilities across Pennsylvania, according to four related lawsuits filed Wednesday.
The lawsuits, brought by 66 men and women, accuse officials of failing to protect the victims or punish their abusers — including nurses, guards and supervisors — despite widespread and well-known instances of sexual abuse against children.
The lawsuits detail sexual abuse cases ranging from “inappropriate strip searches to rape using violent physical force.”
The victims, who are now adults, say the abuse took place in three facilities run by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services — the Loysville Youth Development Center, the South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit and the North Central Secure Treatment Unit in Danville — as well as facilities run by the Villanova-based Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health and the Tucson, Arizona-based VisionQuest National.
Another facility highlighted by one of the lawsuits, the Merakey USA-run Northwestern Academy in Coal Township, Pa.,closed in 2016.
But that’s not enough, according to Jerome Block, an attorney whose New York-based law firm filed the lawsuits.
“Our clients were sentenced to Northwestern Academy when they were children in need of help, support, and understanding. Instead, they were sexually violated by the very adult staff members whose job it was to keep them safe,” Block said in a news release.
Anna Kull, who filed a lawsuit against the Devereux Foundation on behalf of “18 brave survivors of childhood sexual abuse,” said their accounts expose the “careless” policies that continue to enable predatory behavior and violence against an already vulnerable population.
Fifteen people confined at the state-run facilities pointed at an ongoing “culture of exploitation, violence and rampant sexual abuse,” noting children have long been victimized by guards, counselors and other staff.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
With News Wire Services
