Bailey Glasser Files Two New Lawsuits Against the State of Illinois on Behalf of Survivors of Sexual Assault & Abuse
MEDIA REQUESTS: To schedule an interview with counsel or for other media inquiries, please contact Joe Carey at joe@careystrategiccommunications.com
June 3, 2024, Washington, D.C.: Bailey & Glasser, LLP and co-counsel have filed two new complaints on behalf of 95 men and 13 women survivors of sexual abuse against the Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice employees, alleging that the Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice failed to protect children from rampant sexual abuse perpetrated by adult employees at Illinois Youth Centers across the state. This latest legal action comes on the heels of an initial lawsuit filed on May 6 now raising the total number of plaintiffs to more than 200.
All sexual assault survivors were between 10 and 17 years old at the time of the abuse with the assaults taking place between 1997 and 2019. The perpetrators of the sexual abuse were male and female Illinois Youth Center staff, including correctional officers, counselors, and supervisors, across eight state-run facilities.
Bailey Glasser is on the forefront of lawsuits seeking justice on behalf of childhood sexual abuse survivors and has brought hundreds of similar lawsuits in the State of Maryland on behalf of survivors of abuse in its juvenile hall detention facilities.
Partner D. Todd Mathews, lead counsel on the Bailey Glasser litigation team, stated: “The systemic abuse suffered by our clients while vulnerable minors in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice is horrific. We now have three lawsuits representing more than 200 survivors who were intentionally targeted and abused while in state custody, which has impacted every aspect of their lives. We are impressed by our clients' strength and tenacity in coming forward, and we’re ready to fight for these survivors in court.”
As alleged in the complaints, the Illinois juvenile detention centers systemically failed to protect youth inmates from violence and sexual abuse perpetrated by staff, and several had the highest rates of sexual victimization in the nation according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The record shows that the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and related entities that operated these youth facilities allowed staff to abuse these minors for decades. The survivors in the cases includes plaintiffs sexually abused when they were children ranging from ages 10 to 17. The perpetrators of the sexual abuse were correctional officers, counselors, supervisors and other Illinois Youth Center staff.
The lawsuits filed by Bailey Glasser, along with co-counsel Levy Konigsberg and DiCello Levitt, were brought under the recently amended Childhood Sexual Abuse Act as codified at 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2. This statute allows survivors 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 Bailey Glasser litigation team includes D. Todd Mathews; founding partner Brian A. Glasser; partner and Mass Tort Practice Group Leader David Selby; and lawyer Samira Bode.
To review a data sheet about our three lawsuits, please visit this link.
MEDIA REQUESTS: To schedule an interview with counsel or for other media inquiries, please contact Joe Carey at joe@careystrategiccommunications.com.
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