Pennsylvania state-run juvenile detention facilities are under investigation following allegations of sexual abuse.
Multiple Pennsylvania state-run juvenile detention facilities are under investigation following allegations of sexual abuse. Many of these facilities are maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, including the Loysville Youth Development Center, the South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit, and the North Central Secure Treatment Unit.
Young children living in these environments have allegedly been subjected to “inappropriate strip searches” and “rape using violent physical force.”
One complaint states that a resident was drugged, restrained, and physically assaulted by staff while he was unable to move.
In another instance, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly forced to engage in sexual activity with two staff members at Northwestern Academy. When she came forward about the abuse, she was accused of fabricating the story. In turn, the young girl lost access to home visits.
During therapy sessions, she was instructed by a male therapist to write about these sexual encounters. Over the course of five months, he told her that she was in treatment for sex addiction. The therapist also stated that he was generating content for his newest book. After leaving the facility, the young girl asked to see the book and was told by the director that it did not exist.
A federal investigation conducted in 2010 uncovered numerous instances of sexual abuse at multiple Pennsylvania juvenile detention facilities. Survivors and their supporters allege that Pennsylvania’s state officials “dismissed the data” instead of taking preventative measures moving forward.
The complaint argues that Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Juvenile Justice Services failed to take action because the bureau’s director believed that the children “couldn’t understand or accurately answer questions about whether they’d experienced sexual abuse.”
The plaintiffs’ attorneys seek to give the young survivors a chance to share their stories through individual testimonies. In their eyes, the plaintiffs do recall what happened to them and they certainly have the ability to describe these traumatic events.
Jerome Block, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, represents clients in multiple states who have experienced similar abuse. “The purpose of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate and educate and reform, to equip them to lead healthy, productive lives,” he said. “Instead these men and women were sexually traumatized as children. They came to these facilities needing help. Instead, they had trauma inflicted upon them.”
Authors: Andy Goldwasser and Alexis Kabat
