Survivors and Attorneys Speak Out About Sex Abuse in Cook County Juvenile Court System

“We’ve got folks as young as 9 years old who were abused. This happened over and over and over again from 1995 until current. It’s still going on. We will continue to have press conferences and file lawsuits until the folks in Springfield and Cook County hear us and do something.”

This was a statement made by BG partner D. Todd Mathews at a press conference last week in Chicago, where he, co-counsel, and several plaintiffs spoke about the abuse and injuries suffered at the hands of adult employees at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center between 1995 and 2022.

As detailed in the new round of lawsuits filed July 22, the State of Illinois; the Office of the Chief Judge for Cook County, Illinois; the Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice employees failed to protect children from rampant sexual abuse perpetrated by adult employees between 1995 and 2022, when hundreds of youths between 9-17 years old were systematically victimized. This filing comes on the heels of two other lawsuits filed this year, which now raises the total number of plaintiffs to nearly 400.

The Bailey Glasser team also includes founding partner Brian A. Glasser; partner and Mass Tort Practice Group Leader David Selby; and lawyer Samira Bode. Levy Konigsberg serves as co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

To watch the full press conference, visit here.

To lean more information about this case and to see additional media coverage, visit here.