Lawsuit: Clark County Juvenile Justice Center

“Seventeen people have notified Clark County of their intent to file a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused while incarcerated at the Clark County Juvenile Justice Center.

Eight claimants filed a civil lawsuit against the county in February, represented by Vancouver-based injury law firm Schauermann Thayer. Five months later, nine others notified the county of their intent to file lawsuits as well.”

“All claimants, who are now adults, say they were between 12 and 17 years old when they were sexually abused by guards and other county employees while incarcerated.

“After filing the lawsuit in February, we began receiving calls from others who were raped and sexually assaulted while children at the Juvenile Justice Center,” Scott Edwards, attorney for the survivors, said. “The patterns of sexual abuse echoed the voices of those survivors we already represented, and we hope to bring justice for these survivors as well. This type of behavior has no place in our community. It must stop.”

The lawsuit filed by Scaurmann Thayer and the first eight victims alleged a pattern of abuse at the juvenile center lasting from 1978 to 2014.

The victims alleged that Clark County staff “routinely” subjected children in custody to sexual abuse, failed to report sexual abuse and failed to take action on sexual abuse that was reported.

The lawsuit filed by the first eight claimants cites the Prison Rape Elimination Act and other rules describing Clark County’s responsibility to protect the rights of children under its protection, including incarcerated children.

In court documents, claimants named specific guards and circumstances when they were sexually assaulted. They recount how they were groped, forced to perform sex acts and groomed by guards and Clark County staff.

They claimed that assault happened in their cells, in broom closets and in other secluded spaces. In some testimony, guards would take turns watching each other abuse incarcerated children.

Claimants also alleged that guards would threaten to kill them, or threaten that things would “get much worse,” if they reported the abuse.

The civil lawsuit claims damages including “a fair amount of compensation for mental anguish and emotional distress, pain, suffering, disability, inconvenience, loss, diminishment, or impairment of activities previously enjoyed, and loss of society and companionship.”

In a press release about the nine additional claimants’ intent to file lawsuits, Schauermann Thayer said people with information about sexual abuse at the Juvenile Justice Center, as well as other survivors interested in pursuing legal action, could contact their firm at 360-695-4244.

Similar allegations of systemic abuse around the region
The Clark County Juvenile Justice Center is not the only juvenile detention center facing allegations of systemic sexual abuse.

In October 2025, fifteen Washington residents who were incarcerated at the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center testified that they were sexually abused by detention center guards as children at the facility.

The claimants said they were aged 12 to 17 years old when the abuse took place. Allegations spanned from 1983 to 2010.

The residents, represented by Spokane-based Connelly Law Offices, alleged in their lawsuit that they grooming and sexual abuse were “brazen” and recount how they were forced to endure acts of masturbation, oral sex, and vaginal and oral rape.

Plaintiffs claimed that “Spokane County failed to take even minimal precautions in supervising its employees and protecting youth in its custody.”

NonStop Local reached out to Spokane County and was told by a spokesperson that they do not comment on pending or potential litigation.

In nearby Idaho, reporting from InvestigateWest revealed systemic issues in Idaho’s prison system that failed to protect incarerated women from sexual abuse by prison guards.”

17 allege sexual assault while at Clark County Juvenile Justice Center

[KHQ 7/29/26 by Caleb McGever]

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