Maryland Juvenile Detention Center Abuse

In this video we are discussing an issue affecting some of Maryland’s most vulnerable youths—abuse within juvenile detention centers. These facilities, meant to rehabilitate young offenders, have instead become sites of profound mistreatment.

Juvenile detention centers, often referred to as youth detention centers or juvenile halls, are designed to house young people under 18 awaiting trial or serving criminal sentences. Research shows that these centers have alarmingly high rates of sexual victimization, often surpassing those in adult prisons.

The Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Maryland, has the highest reported rate of juvenile detention center sexual abuse in the nation with a staggering 36 percent of incarcerated youth reporting experiencing sexual abuse while in the facility —triple the national average.
The systemic physical and sexual abuse in Maryland juvenile detention centers isn’t isolated to Backbone Mountain. Across Maryland, media reports and lawsuits have surfaced detailing decades of physical and sexual abuse in at least ten different facilities, affecting countless young lives from at least 1969 to the present.

Many of these impacted individuals, already survivors of considerable trauma, find themselves retraumatized rather than rehabilitated. These cases of abuse are predominantly at the hands of staff members, including correctional officers, guards, and other facility staff.

If you or someone you know has suffered physical or sexual abuse in a Maryland juvenile detention facility, you deserve to understand your rights and options.

If an individual is still incarcerated in a facility and tells you about experiencing abuse, their safety is the top priority.

They likely fear retaliation or further abuse if they report the harm themselves.

A trusted person on the outside can help them pursue different options but should start by speaking with an experienced attorney prior to filing any official reports or contacting the facility to help ensure the their safety and legal rights are protected.

If you or someone you know experienced physical or sexual abuse while incarcerated in a Maryland juvenile detention center in the past, we first recommend writing down everything you can remember including dates, times, what happened in your own words, who was involved, any potential evidence you can think of, and any witnesses or people you told following the incident.

Impacted individuals have the right to report abuse to the Maryland Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit and the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

Unfortunately, Maryland has not developed an easy way to submit a report to these organizations, such as a tip line or an online form so you must contact the state institution over phone to understand their process.

You can also report the abuse to law enforcement by filing a police report. We understand that individuals may be hesitant to engage with law enforcement after experiencing abuse within a system that was supposed to help them but instead caused further harm.

Filing a report may lead to a criminal investigation against the perpetrators, while also creating a crucial record of the abuse for yourself and in case others come forward later.
Maryland has no criminal statute of limitations for most sex crimes, meaning you can report even decades after and a criminal prosecution may still be possible.

Recent legislation, including the Child Victims Act, has expanded civil rights for child sexual abuse victims in Maryland.

This Act has eliminated the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits – allowing survivors to file a civil lawsuit related to child sexual abuse claims regardless of how much time has passed since the abuse occurred. This new law has opened the opportunity for hundreds of survivors of all forms of sexual abuse to come forward and file complaints regardless of when the harm happened recently or decades ago.

Helping Survivors can help you understand your rights and options can can connect you to an experienced juvenile detention center abuse attorney who can provide a free consultation to help you understand your legal rights and options, including reporting to the state oversight agency or filing a civil lawsuit even if the abuse occurred decades ago or the facility has closed.

Please reach out to us today and we can help you navigate the next best step in your healing journey.