Lawsuit Claims Children at DC's Overcrowded Youth Jail (which is 95% Black) are Being Raped and Sexually Assaulted by Prison Cops

Two D.C. civil rights attorneys believe there are more victims of violence and abuse inside D.C. juvenile justice facilities, and they want to hear from their families.

Tuesday in downtown D.C., the attorneys E. Paige White and Bernadette Armand announced a lawsuit against the District, D.C.’s Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), DYRS Director Sam Abed and Kelvin Powell, a former guard at DC’s Youth Services Center (YSC). The YSC is the District’s juvenile jail.

Powell was convicted in July of repeatedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl under the care of DYRS.

"It is clear by the fact that this happened over and over and over again that nobody was watching,” White said Tuesday.

"Powell's assaults occurred over several months between late 2021 and early 2022 while the victim was residing at the YSC in Northeast D.C.," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of D.C.

In the lawsuit, White alleges DYRS didn’t monitor surveillance video that would have shown Powell, the guard, allegedly going in and out of the girl's cell and taking the girl off the unit. The suit alleges those movements are outside DYRS policy but were not caught.

The suit also alleges Powell had a history of sexual abuse at DYRS. [MORE]