(23 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago – 23 July 2024
++STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Todd Mathews, attorney:
‘We filed suit yesterday on behalf of 193 survivors against Cook County for the atrocious conditions at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center over the years."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Todd Mathews, attorney:
"The people behind me and the other people we represent were directly impacted and their lives were changed forever and completely. This has to stop."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Todd Mathews, attorney:
"Pay particular attention to the age of these kids. We’ve got folks as young as nine years old who were abused."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jerome Block, attorney:
"This is the prison like environment where children are still being held today. "
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jerome Block, attorney:
"This is a facility that is supposed to keep children safe, and it’s supposed to rehabilitate children. Okay, that is a prison cell."
6. Still photo of detention center room projected on a screen
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jerome Block, attorney:
"The perpetrators in these cases are detention officers, they’re counselors, they’re medical staff, they’re even supervisors. The very people entrusted with keeping children safe were the ones perpetrating the sexual abuse."
++BLACK FRAMES++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Temarkus Washington, plaintiff:
"Three staff members took advantage of my fear and confusion and sexually abused me. It’s not something that I’d like to talk about or even think about. I did what I had to do to survive in there, but the act that those staff members forced me to do still gives me nightmares. I am here because I want to feel confident in myself again. For so long I’ve done it myself and feel so scared. But there are too many kids in the juvenile system who just as scared as I did. I want to change the world for the next generation, and I want to make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone else ever again."
++BLACK FRAMES++
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Phillip Goodwin, plaintiff:
"And my mischief landed me in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. I was nervous going there. I was away from my family, my home, and I didn’t know what to expect. I could never have expected what I found. Adult staff members using the power of an attorney to sexually abuse me."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Nearly 200 men and women are alleging they were sexually abused as children while at a Chicago youth detention facility.
A pair of lawsuits filed this week in the Illinois Court of Claims are the latest to detail harrowing instances of abuse at the hands of employees of juvenile detention facilities.
The survivors include 35-year-old Temarkus Washington who says he still has nightmares about what happened at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center about a decade ago.
He wanted to speak publicly to help others.
The lawsuits name the state of Illinois and Cook County. Representatives of the state and county didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.
AP Video shot by Teresa Crawford
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e5e1dcb9315248eab27bd95bb5b8ed1e
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in July 28, 2024, 9:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
