Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center
VERONA — A federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center that alleged staff used excessive force, excessive restraints, excessive solitary confinement and provided inadequate mental health treatment.
Lawyers who brought the class-action suit against the center plan to appeal on grounds that the court erred in dismissing the mental health claim. Hannah Lieberman, the legal director for Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which filed the suit, said the group looks forward to appealing the case.
"The immigrant children who were detained at the center came to this country fleeing just horrific violence," Lieberman said. "The knowledge that these kids are very fragile and horribly traumatized are fully known to detention facilities, including SVJC. And despite that knowledge, the record in this case, we believe, showed that the facility did not provide them with meaningful treatment for these known serious mental health needs."
Western District of Virginia Judge Elizabeth Dillon dismissed the suit on July 23. Lieberman said lawyers on behalf of plaintiffs agreed to a voluntary dismissal of the claims that could have gone on to trial — excessive force, excessive use of restraints and excessive solitary confinement — in order to pursue the appeal.
"We made a decision that the failure to provide mental health treatment for kids with known serious trauma was ... the core, highly significant issue," Lieberman said. "So we thought the court erred by dismissing that claim and are interested in getting that decision before the (U.S. Court of the Appeals for the) Fourth Circuit."
Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center Executive Director Tim Showalter said in a statement that the center was pleased with the outcome.
"The allegations in the lawsuit regarding mistreatment of youth in our care are not, and never were, legitimate or reliable," he said in the statement. "Our staff works every day to offer our residents a safe environment where they can receive important services like education, health care and counseling. We are eager to continue our work serving the people of the Shenandoah Valley and the youth entrusted to our care."
Originally, three immigrant youth were part of the lawsuit, but two were deported and one decided to stop pursuing the lawsuit.
The current plaintiff is John Doe 4, a 17-year-old boy who left Honduras to flee gang violence. Lawyers were given the option to find an additional plaintiff currently at SVJC to move forward with the case. Lieberman said there were five immigrant kids in the center at the time and appealing was the more "meaningful option."
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The class-action lawsuit was filed in October 2017 by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
The juvenile center received national attention in June 2018 after the Associated Press reported on alleged abuse and the lawsuit, interviewing several former employees.
A state review in August 2018 found that while the facility used restraint techniques that can included strapping children to chairs and placing mesh bags over their heads, it didn't meet the state's legal threshold for abuse or neglect.
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