Lawsuit claims children suffer sexual, emotional abuse in Michigan prisons
By Paul Egan
Detroit Free Press
LANSING — An attorney who won a $100-million settlement stemming from sexual assaults by guards on female inmates is suing the Michigan Department of Corrections again — this time, claiming that male inmates younger than 18 have been sexually and physically assaulted by adults they have been housed with.
Ann Arbor attorney Deborah LaBelle, who won a 2009 settlement on behalf of more than 500 female Michigan prisoners who said they were sexually abused by corrections officers, filed the latest lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Tuesday.
Plaintiffs are seven unnamed John Doe prisoners who say they were sexually and physically assaulted or harassed while housed as minors in the Michigan prison system.
