Charles H. Hickey School Juvenile Detention Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
Formerly Known as the Maryland Training School for Boys, This Juvenile Detention Center Has a History of Rape and Sexual Abuse of Minors
Maryland Juvenile detention centers have been irresponsible in their duties to protect the vulnerable minors in their care. Youth detention centers, like the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School, ignored reports of rapes and sexual assaults for many years. These reports were not taken seriously by the centers.
Many juvenile prisoners experience incarceration due to traumatic experiences, poor family relationships, and untreated mental health issues. These can lead to poor decision-making and a move toward acts of crime. We are talking about minors, people who have very little control over where, how, and with whom they grow up.
Serving time in a juvenile detention center is supposed to be a minor’s “payment of debt to society.” The incarceration is the punishment. Minors should not experience cruel and unusual punishment beyond that.
Children in juvenile detention centers should never experience rape, sexual abuse, or assault by the adults in charge.
If you or a loved one is a survivor of childhood rape or sexual abuse while incarcerated in a Maryland juvenile detention center, you are not at fault, and you are not alone. The experienced attorneys at The Yost Legal Group are representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse that happened in Maryland’s youth detention centers.
If you are ready to talk, we are here to listen. Call or text today at 410-659-6800.
Uncovering the Horrors Inside Maryland’s Youth Detention Centers
These young people were raped and assaulted in juvenile detention. They did not deserve to be mistreated, no matter the reason they were locked up. They should not have been ignored or made fun of. They were talking about the bad things that happened to them in Maryland’s youth detention centers.
These facilities and the state of Maryland that oversees them have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the minors in their care. All parties involved with the management of these juvenile detention centers failed in their duties to protect vulnerable minors.
Now, thanks to Maryland’s Child Victims Act, survivors have a chance to advocate for themselves, to come forward, to pursue legal action against the facility where they were harmed.
Survivors Find Their Voice Thanks to Maryland’s Child Victims Act
The Child Victims Act has invigorated thousands of survivors to come forward, speak their truths, and seek justice. The Archdiocese of Baltimore alone is facing over 700 lawsuits from survivors who reported their childhood sexual abuses.
These brave and resilient survivors are going to help make sure these abusive institutions are held accountable for their complacency in the malice treatment of minors.
By February of 2024, there were already over 200 survivors who were suing Maryland’s juvenile justice agency. The lawsuits alleged abuse at 15 juvenile detention facilities. But it is believed there are far more cases than those.
Sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers turns into so many young victims of sexual abuse. One of our child sexual abuse lawyers can help you seek justice. Rape in juvenile jails has a going on for years and we are working to hold the department of juvenile services accountable.
There is an extensive list of Maryland’s juvenile detention centers you can find at this link. Some of the facilities are defunct, others are still active. No matter the operational status, if you or a loved one was raped or sexually abused as a minor in one of Maryland’s juvenile detention centers by an employee or contractor, you may have a case.
If you or a loved one was raped or sexually abused as a minor in a Maryland juvenile detention center and you are ready to tell your truth, contact The Yost Legal Group today.
Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School Sexual Abuse Claims
The Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School is one juvenile detention facility of note. Not only did the Hickey School come up in the earliest lawsuits against Maryland’s youth centers, we here at The Yost Legal Group are representing several “John Doe’s who are suing the school.
Formerly known as the Maryland Training School for Boys, the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School has technically been in operation since 1850 when it was first called the House of Refuge.
The original building stood on Frederick Avenue in Baltimore City. The House of Refuge was the very first facility in the state of Maryland to function with the sole purpose of housing minor offenders to keep them away from adults.
Logically and on paper, it is a good idea to keep minors away from adult prisoners.
Unfortunately, the so-called adults in charge were not particularly “innocent” themselves.
Maryland School for Boys Sexual Abuse Claims
After changing its name to the Maryland School for Boys, the juvenile detention center moved in 1910 to its current location near Loch Raven. Then, in 1918, the facility changed its name again, this time to the Maryland Training School for Boys.
The juvenile detention center would operate under that name for decades until adopting its current name of Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School in 1985, in honor of a Baltimore County sheriff who passed away the year prior.
However, several name changes and relocation cannot hide or erase decades of reported sexual abuse. To be exact, the very first reports of maltreatment date back over 160 years to when the facility still had its very first name, the House of Refuge.
Maryland Survivor Breaks Silence on Juvenile Detention Abuse
As mentioned, we are representing several “John Doe”s who were held at the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School. One such client was there in the 1980s and shared accounts of being groomed and sexually abused by two different guards.
Our client was a teenaged minor. He was incarcerated. There is no such thing as “consent” in either situation. The adult guards, one man, one woman, used their position of influence and power within the facility to rape and sexually abuse our client during his incarceration.
Beyond the personal failings of the guards, there are also clear logistical and systemic failures on the part of Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School’s administration that made it possible for guards to discretely sexually abuse the minors in their care.
Now, our client must deal with the aftermath of horrific psychological trauma. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and behavioral issues on top of the traumas that led to his being incarcerated in the first place.
We must hold these abusive individuals, the institutions that harbored them, and the state of Maryland accountable. The Maryland Department of Justice should not allow rape in juvenile detention centers.
Maryland’s Youth Detention Crisis: Survivors Seek Justice
Unfortunately, a lawsuit will not get anyone their time back. It will not undo the damage that has been done. It will not make the memories go away. If you are a survivor of sexual abuse in a juvenile jail by a guard or staff member call us to talk.
However, pursuing legal action against these institutions can help secure a monetary win that can be used to pay for therapy and medical bills, help your family, etc. Also, holding these abusive institutions accountable can help ensure these atrocities do not happen to the next person.
If you were in a Baltimore juvenile detention center and were sexually abused as a minor while at the Charles H. Hickey, Jr. School or any other Maryland juvenile detention center, we are here to listen. We are here to help. Contact the compassionate sexual abuse survivor attorneys at The Yost Legal Group today. Call or text us at 410-659-6800.