What You Need to Know About Abuse in San Diego Juvenile Facilities

San Diego County operates several juvenile detention facilities. For decades, these centers were meant to house youth in the justice system, but disturbing reports reveal that for many young people, these facilities became places of abuse instead of rehabilitation. In 2019, California passed a law that extended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits. Since then, more and more survivors of abuse inside San Diego’s juvenile detention centers have come forward to seek justice.

Today, three facilities remain open; East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility with nearly 300 beds serving as the county’s primary booking center, the Girls Rehabilitation Facility, a 33 bed program for medium to high-risk girls aged 13 to 18, the Kearny Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility, now called the Youth Transition Campus, which hosts more than 350 minors in maximum security. Several other facilities, including Camp Barrett and the Juvenile Ranch Facility, have closed in recent years, but lawsuits showed that abuse occurred across nearly all of these institutions.

In May 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a civil rights investigation into San Diego’s juvenile facilities, citing systemic mistreatment, excessive force, and civil rights violations. Survivors described being sexually assaulted by probation officers, threatened into silence, and ignored when they tried to report the abuse. Kearny Mesa is the most frequently cited in lawsuits with incidents spanning from 1970 through 2022. Survivors report lifelong trauma and depression as a result of assaults that happened while they were still minors. The AB and Jesse Polinsky Children’s Center has also been a subject of more than 100 lawsuits alleging decades of molestation, groping, and rape made possible by poor background checks and a culture of silence. Even at now closed facilities like Camp Barrett and Juvenile Ranch, lawsuits describe staff using power and intimidation to force young detainees into sexual acts.

Survivors of these abuses have important legal rights. Survivors can file civil claims until age 40 or within five years of discovering that their trauma was linked to abuse. Taking action can feel overwhelming, but survivors don’t have to do it alone. Reporting abuse, even years later, creates a record that can support both civil and criminal cases. And consulting an experienced sexual abuse attorney can help survivors navigate their options and pursue compensation for medical costs, emotional distress, and other damages.

At Helping Survivors, we connect survivors with trauma-informed attorneys who specialize in sexual abuse cases against detention facilities. These lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning you pay nothing unless they win your case. If you or a loved one experienced sexual abuse while detained in a San Diego juvenile facility, know that justice is possible. Contact Helping Survivors today to learn more about your rights and options.