Juvenile Detention Sex Abuse

Nearly 1,000 complaints of mistreatment and concerning conditions have been filed this year by young people held within Oregon’s juvenile justice system, marking the highest number of reports since 2019. According to recently released data, 956 complaints were submitted by youth in the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA), the state agency responsible for […]

A former teacher at the Adair County Juvenile Detention Center in Kentucky, Elena Bardin, 27, was sentenced last Thursday to 14 years in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse and unlawful transaction with a minor. Bardin, who had worked as an English teacher at the facility, was found guilty of engaging in explicit sexual

A new lawsuit filed on October 10, 2025 brings six additional former youth into the growing number of individuals accusing the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) of ignoring sexual abuse allegations at its facilities. This latest case involves abuse at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, and further raises questions about institutional accountability. Brief Summary of

Attorneys representing over 200 women are calling for a federal investigation into rampant sexual abuse at juvenile bootcamps run by the Los Angeles County probation department. This plea comes months after the county reached a historic $4 billion  settlement to resolve over 7,000 sexual abuse claims related to its juvenile facilities, marking the largest sex

A new lawsuit filed in D.C. Superior Court is shedding light on troubling allegations of sexual assault at a youth detention center in the District of Columbia. The lawsuit accuses the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) and the Youth Services Center (YSC) of ignoring years of sexual abuse at the hands of a former

Three Survivors File Federal Lawsuit Against Maryland Juvenile Detention Centers Filed in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, the lawsuit accuses former staff and administrators at Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center and Charles Hickey Jr. School of knowingly allowing years of abuse to occur unchecked. The plaintiffs, identified only as T.B., T.H., and A.W., were

Decades of Abuse at Henry County Community Corrections Exposed Numerous former detainees at Henry County Community Corrections have come forward to accuse a former deputy director, Jason Bertram, and former Henry County Sheriff Kim Cronk, of sexually abusing or raping them for decades. These actions were allegedly covered up by various county officials, fueling a

Eleven survivors have come forward to file lawsuits against Camden County, New Jersey, alleging they were sexually abused while confined at the Camden County Youth Detention Center, also known as Lakeland. The lawsuits claimed that the county failed to protect the victims from known and ongoing abuse by adult staff members. These allegations paint a

What Was Red Rock Canyon School? Red Rock Canyon School, once located in St. George, Utah, was part of the troubled teen industry—private residential treatment facilities designed to help minors with behavioral issues. While intended to provide support and rehabilitation for troubled youth, Red Rock Canyon became notorious for its history of abuse and neglect.

Lakeland Behavioral Health System in Springfield, Missouri, is at the center of a series of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by employees at its juvenile treatment facility. Two lawsuits filed this week include a total of 31 plaintiffs—28 in one suit filed on May 7, and 3 plaintiffs in another filed May 5. The lawsuits accuse

A lawsuit filed on April 29, 2025, in King County Superior Court alleges systemic negligence by the county in its handling of sexual abuse claims at its juvenile and adult detention facilities, spanning from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. The complaint, brought by 36 former juvenile detainees, reportedly accuses the county of allowing

In recent years, the state of Maryland has seen an alarming increase in lawsuits filed by individuals who allege they were sexually abused while detained in state-run juvenile detention centers. These claims, many of which date back several decades, have sparked widespread attention and concern over the treatment of vulnerable youth in the state’s care.