Lawsuits claim 66 people were abused as children in Pennsylvania’s juvenile facilities

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Dozens of children suffered physical and sexual abuse including violent rapes inside juvenile detention centers and similar facilities in Pennsylvania, according to four related lawsuits filed Wednesday. Instead, they had trauma inflicted upon them.” The lawsuits name the state-run Loysville Youth Development Center, South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit and North Central Secure Treatment Unit in Danville; Merakey USA’s Northwestern Academy outside Shamokin, which closed in 2016; and facilities run by Tucson, Arizona-based VisionQuest National Ltd. and Villanova-based Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health. Devereux vice president Leah Yaw also declined to address specific allegations, but said it has worked to prevent abuse and improve safety by including training and outside accreditation on sexual abuse prevention, improving the pipeline for people to work in nonprofit behavioral health and spending millions to improve its facilities and technology. One says that when he was 14 and sedated during “major anger outbreaks,” a staff member sexually abused him while he was restrained “so he could not fight back.” Other claims say children at the state-run facilities “have long been subjected to a culture of exploitation, violence and rampant sexual abuse” committed by guards, counselors and other staff.