Tag Archives: abuse of incarcerated juveniles

Backbone Mountain Youth Center, Garrett County, MD, Source https://djs.maryland.gov/Pages/facilities/Backbone-Mountain-Youth-Center.aspx

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, nearly 2000 children and teens are arrested everyday in the United States.  In 2018 alone, there were over 700,000 minors under the age of 18 arrested [1].

Tragically, young people are extremely vulnerable to mental, physical, and sexual abuse and neglect during incarceration [2][3][4].  The Dept. of Justice indicates over 36% of the youth in custody at one Maryland juvenile detention center (Backbone Mountain Youth Center) reported having been sexually abused there — fully three times the national average [5].

A total of two hundred victims of physical and sexual abuse have now sued Maryland’s Dept. of Juvenile Services [6A][7A].  Allegations are that abuse was systemic between 1969 and 2017 [8].  Fifteen facilities (three of which have since been closed) are involved in these suits. Continue reading →