Levy Konigsberg Attorneys Jerome Block, Jacob Jordan and Co-Counsel have filed lawsuits on behalf of nearly 200 men and women who were sexually abused by staff members when they were confined as children at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, formerly known as the Audy Home

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 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; [email protected]

SOURCE Levy Konigsberg