Nearly 100 people allege widespread physical, sexual abuse in Nevada juvenile facilities
A similar lawsuit in Los Angeles County reached a $4 billion agreement to settle more than 6,800 sexual abuse claims.
Content warning: This article contains references to abuse and the molestation of children, which some might find distressing. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 (HOPE) or visit RAINN.org.
Nearly 100 people are alleging in a federal lawsuit that they were physically or sexually assaulted while in juvenile detention and correctional facilities operated in Nevada over the last quarter century.
The more than 200-page federal lawsuit, filed in April and naming various officials in state agencies and counties, includes 96 accounts of sexual assaults of minors by correctional staff in vivid and excruciating detail, including instances of molestation, rape, masturbation and penetration. The complaint says the abuse was "not a matter of isolated misconduct" but rather "systemic failure."
It described how adults working in and running the facilities kept the abuse under wraps, such as bribing child victims with food or privileges in exchange for sexual acts, threatening longer sentences or punishment if a child reported the abuse and telling victims that no one would believe them if they reported violations.
"These acts were part of a pattern or practice of abuse that occurred with impunity due to lack of oversight, its ineffective grievance system, and its culture of intimidation," the lawsuit claims. "The Defendant State officials, sued in their official capacities, failure to act was not merely negligent — it was intentional and calculated."
Elisa Cafferata, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Alliance, said the state keeps failing its "moral obligation" to care for children in its custody — noting the settlement reached last year with the Department of Justice over the chronic institutionalization of children with behavioral health issues.
"These are not isolated incidents," she said. "They are a pattern. Nevada chronically underinvests in children and waits to be sued before it changes course … Waiting to be sued returns the worst outcomes for everyone. Nevada has to do better. All of us are depending on it."
The lawsuit calls for a jury trial and has been served to defendants in phases, naming state officials within the Nevada Department of Human Services and Clark County; both entities declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Representatives from Douglas County, whose employees were also named, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
It comes on the heels of similar recent lawsuits alleging abuse in juvenile detention centers in at least 13 other states.
