CHICAGO– Three men who say they were sexually abused as children while incarcerated in Illinois juvenile detention centers spoke out Tuesday as part of a lawsuit that chronicles decades of disturbing allegations of systemic child abuse.
Calvin McDowell, 37, who claimed he was abused by a chaplain at a suburban Chicago youth center when he was a teenager, said he did not want others to suffer as he did for decades.
“Instead of being cared for, I felt more alone than ever,” McDowell said at a news conference in Chicago. “I hid my secret from the people I loved out of fear and shame. I had nights when I wanted to give up on life.”
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to tell their stories publicly, as McDowell and two other men who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit did.
The complaint filed Monday alleges widespread abuse between 1996 and 2017 at nine youth detention centers, including gang rape, forced oral sex and beatings of children by correctional officers, sergeants, nurses, therapists, a chaplain and others. Many of the 95 plaintiffs, mostly identified by their initials in the lawsuit, said they were threatened or rewarded to remain silent.
The lawsuit follows similar complaints of abuse at juvenile detention centers in New Jersey, California, Maryland and elsewhere.
Ten of the 95 men and women who filed the complaint in Illinois attended the news conference.
Jeffery Christian, 36, said he was abused at two different Illinois Youth Centers, including by a counselor who groped him during counseling sessions. His family’s efforts to report the abuse were ignored at the time, he said — a pattern that was familiar to others.
“I want the world to know what happened to me and the rest of the survivors who are with me,” Christian said. “I want to shine a light on these dark times I went through as a teenager.”
As Christian shed tears, another survivor patted him on the back in support. There were nods of agreement and applause as the survivors spoke. Several said that meeting others who had the same harrowing experiences helped them find peace.
The lawsuit claims Illinois failed to supervise, discipline, remove or investigate alleged abusers, allowing the abuse to continue. The complaint alleges that the abuse happened in juvenile halls in locations across the state, including Chicago, St. Charles and Harrisburg. Since then, several detention centers have been closed.
Filed in the Illinois Court of Claims, the lawsuit names the state of Illinois and its Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice as defendants. He seeks damages of about $2 million per plaintiff, the maximum allowed by law.
Spokespeople for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who took office in 2019, and the two corrections agencies said the alleged incidents occurred under previous administrations and that any allegations of employee misconduct are “thoroughly investigated.” They had no further comment immediately Tuesday.
The lawyers who filed the lawsuit said they are skeptical that things have changed.
Attorney Todd Mathews said there are hundreds of other formerly detained children in Illinois who allege sexual abuse and he hopes to file more lawsuits. Attorney Jerome Block, who has helped bring lawsuits against juvenile detention centers elsewhere, said states always maintain they have the right procedures in place to prevent abuse and that children are safe.
“It’s hard to believe the state when it says there’s no problem right now, because that’s what it’s said for the last several decades,” Block said.
Some survivors said they hope to get more answers through legal action, including the names of their alleged attackers.
The lawsuit names six alleged repeat offenders identified by name. But many others are identified only because alleged victims remember them, including through physical descriptions or nicknames.
Stephen Lucas, 36, was about 13 years old when he said he was repeatedly abused and harassed by a supervisor at an upstate youth facility. He hopes his presentation will help others.
“I was afraid to share my difficulties with those closest to me because I didn’t want to be seen differently. But joining the process freed a part of me that I had locked away for 22 years,” he said. “I’m finally taking back what was taken from me so many years ago.”
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