
WASHINGTON STATE
JUVENILE DETENTION SEXUAL ABUSE
In a pair of lawsuits, nearly 400 people have claimed they were sexually assaulted in Washington’s youth detention centers as children.
Last Wednesday, 176 men and women sued the state, alleging staff members abused them while they were incarcerated between the ages of 9 and 17.
They join 188 other people who filed a similar lawsuit in September. Both groups of plaintiffs argue the state failed to protect children in its care from sexual abuse while they were locked up as kids.
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Nearly 200 people sue WA, alleging sex abuse in juvenile detention
In a statement, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families — which now oversees juvenile detention — said it takes “swift action to protect young people” and encourages reporting sexual abuse by making information available, including posters and brochures.
Many of the allegations go back decades, with the oldest being from 1956, and span over 20 facilities across the state, some of which are now closed. The combined 364 people allege “the length, breadth, and depravity of the abusive acts” demonstrate “an institutional failure,” rather than a few “bad apples.”
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The state has been accused before of failing to protect children from sexual abuse in its care, but the number of plaintiffs in these two lawsuits presents potential for large settlements totaling in the millions, which the state has paid out in similar cases instead of going to trial. Attorney Vanessa Firnhaber Oslund, whose Seattle firm Bergman Oslund Udo Little filed the lawsuits, said her team has been inundated with people claiming they were abused in juvenile detention.
One of the plaintiffs in last Wednesday’s lawsuit, Anthony R., claimed he had been abused by a counselor in the mid-1980s as a young teenager in the Maple Lane School. The man is not being identified by his full name as The Seattle Times typically does not identify victims of sexual assault.
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The counselor allegedly groomed Anthony several times in his office. After the abuse escalated, Anthony recalled: “He told me, ‘If word of this ever gets out on campus, I’m gonna make your life here real miserable.’ And so then I knew for sure, I better not say anything.”
Many plaintiffs said the abuse led them to use drugs and alcohol and commit crimes. Anthony said after leaving Maple Lane, he began using crack cocaine.
“It made it difficult for me to trust. It made it difficult for me to speak up for myself. And I know the escalation of drug and alcohol use was an attempt to not feel, or mask the pain and the guilt and the shame,” he said.
Another plaintiff, who has the initials H.H. and is now 57, experienced similar feelings. He said after he was assaulted twice by the same staffer at Echo Glen at 12 years old, a counselor at the detention center and his mom did not believe him. After that, he said, he “bottled it up and pretended it didn’t happen.”
But it did happen, he said. The sexual assaults, which took place while he was locked away for trying to steal a mini bike, became “a life sentence.” The maintenance worker said it affects him all the time, and even having a co-worker stand behind him to help screw in a cabinet is triggering.
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Anthony R., now 53, said he had never told anyone about the abuse until speaking with a lawyer about it. He called the experience “freeing.”
“I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I feel like anything that has had me in bondage needs to be broken,” said Anthony, who has been sober for almost seven years.
The state has faced several sexual abuse allegations against juvenile rehabilitation staff in recent years.
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In 2021, Washington paid over $2 million to 10 plaintiffs who had sued the state alleging sexual abuse while in the Green Hill School. Earlier that year, the state paid $805,000 to settle sexual abuse lawsuits brought by four people formerly detained at the now-closed Naselle Youth Camp who alleged they were assaulted by a counselor.
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The state has also paid out $27 million in the past couple of years to resolve lawsuits alleging physical and sexual abuse in Washington’s foster care system.
This month, a separate lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court alleged a staff member at Green Hill School, a state youth detention center in Chehalis, repeatedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old. The former staff member, Michelle Goodman, was charged with first-degree sexual misconduct last month.
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Two other staff members of Green Hill School, the state’s largest juvenile detention center, were arrested for custodial sexual misconduct earlier this year. According to the lawsuit, the alleged sexual misconduct took place in supply closets, where many plaintiffs of last Wednesday’s lawsuit described being abused.
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If you or someone you know was sexually abused at Washington State Juvenile Detention Facility contact us below!
