West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center Lawsuit
The West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center was a juvenile detention facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The facility opened in the late 1990s with room to house 182 juveniles awaiting adjudication in San Bernardino County. It closed in 2011 due to funding cuts.
Shortly before its closure in 2011, West Valley faced significant public backlash after the U.S. Department of Justice reported that more than 8% of juveniles at the facility reported experiencing sexual abuse by staff in 2008 and 2009. Other San Bernardino detention facilities have faced similar accusations and lawsuits from sexual abuse survivors, pointing to a potential pattern of abuse and the county’s failure to adequately supervise its facilities.
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Author: Kathryn Kosmides
Survivor Advocate
- The West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center was a juvenile detention facility in San Bernardino County, California, that closed in 2011.
- West Valley is one of many juvenile detention facilities across California that have faced allegations of child sexual abuse by staff members.
- If you or a loved one experienced sexual abuse at the West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center, even if it was years ago, Helping Survivors can help you understand your legal rights and options.
Sexual Abuse Allegations at West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center
According to the 2008-09 National Survey of Youth in Custody by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, 8.3% of youth at West Valley reported sexual victimization by staff. Despite the facility closing more than a decade ago, many former detainees are still processing the trauma they endured at the facility.
West Valley isn’t the only San Bernardino juvenile hall to face sexual abuse allegations. Other county-run juvenile facilities are at the center of multiple lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by staff dating back to the 1970s.
In December 2023, four abuse survivors filed lawsuits against the county, including one alleging abuse by a probation officer at the Central Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center when the victim was just 10 years old. The lawsuits assert that the county’s probation department systemically failed to protect minor detainees by providing inadequate supervision and underreporting abuse incidents.
- Sexual Abuse Allegations at West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center
- How Did Sexual Abuse Occur in West Valley Juvenile Detention Center?
- Rights and Options for Survivors of California Juvenile Detention Sex Abuse
- California Laws on Sexual Abuse
- Compensation in Juvenile Detention Sex Abuse Cases
- Contact Helping Survivors for Legal and Support Resources
How Did Sexual Abuse Occur in West Valley Juvenile Detention Center?
Since 2019, numerous California counties, including San Bernardino, San Diego, and Los Angeles counties, have faced hundreds of lawsuits from survivors who say they were sexually abused in county-run juvenile detention facilities by probation officers, counselors, and other staff.
The suits accuse county officials of failing to adequately screen officers before hiring them, failing to intervene and prevent abuse, failing to properly investigate complaints of abuse, and failing to discipline abusive officers. These allegations reflect a statewide failure to protect vulnerable youth from sexual violence.
Rights and Options for Survivors of California Juvenile Detention Sex Abuse
Although childhood sexual abuse survivors may be reluctant to come forward, they need to know that they are entitled to help and support. Some survivors have the legal right to file a lawsuit for juvenile detention center sexual abuse they endured while detained at the West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center. It’s important to know that any kind of sexual contact between staff and inmates at a juvenile hall is abuse because the employee is in a position of power and control.
Reporting the Abuse
Even if the abuse you endured occurred years or even decades ago, you still may report the abuse to local law enforcement or California’s Child Abuse Hotline at 858-560-2191. This is an important step toward creating documentation that can be relied upon when filing a lawsuit. It also helps ensure accountability for perpetrators and enablers of abuse.
Juvenile detention abuse survivors in California also have the option to file a formal complaint with the state. They may report abuse to the Bureau of Children’s Justice of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration. Survivors can also contact local law enforcement or the California Department of Social Services to report abuse.
Filing a Civil Lawsuit
In California, you may be eligible to file a civil lawsuit over sexual abuse even if the state does not pursue criminal charges against the perpetrator. A 2019 law reforming California’s statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases significantly increased the amount of time survivors have to file a case. This means survivors can still file sexual abuse lawsuits even if the abuse occurred decades ago. You also may have grounds to sue San Bernardino County and its probation department because they operated the West Valley Juvenile Detention Center up to its closure.
California Laws on Sexual Abuse
Under California Assembly Bill 218, survivors of childhood sexual abuse have an extended period to file civil lawsuits. This law, effective January 1, 2020, allows survivors to file claims until they are 40 years old or within five years of discovering the abuse, whichever is later. However, for this limitations period to apply, the detainee must have been under 18 at the time of the abuse. For detainees who were 18 or older at the time of abuse, the statute of limitations only allows 10 years to take civil legal action.
Compensation in Juvenile Detention Sex Abuse Cases
A successful juvenile detention sexual abuse lawsuit can hold the perpetrators and institutional enablers of abuse accountable, giving survivors a sense of justice. However, these lawsuits also allow survivors to recover financial compensation for medical expenses, mental health costs, pain, suffering, emotional anguish, and more.
Sometimes, counties will settle such lawsuits en masse to conserve resources and provide survivors with a more timely resolution to their cases. In April 2025, Los Angeles County reached a $4 billion agreement to settle nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse dating back to 1959 in its juvenile facilities.
Contact Helping Survivors for Legal and Support Resources
If you or a loved one experienced sexual abuse by staff at West Valley Juvenile Detention and Assessment Center or another San Bernardino County juvenile detention facility, you have legal rights and options for holding the responsible parties accountable.
When taking legal action against an institution such as the San Bernardino Probation Department, having professional legal representation can help you navigate the complexities of the legal process.
Helping Survivors is on a mission to help, heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual abuse by informing them of their rights, providing them with resources for support, and connecting them with our partner law firms.
We work with experienced, trauma-informed attorneys who pursue compensation and justice for abuse survivors. These firms have the experience and skill to file civil lawsuits against the individuals and institutions that allowed abuse to occur. They also work on a contingency fee basis. Therefore, there are no upfront costs, and they only get paid if they recover compensation for you.
To learn more about your options as an abuse survivor, contact Helping Survivors today.
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