The prevalence of sexual violence in the US prison system is so widespread and accepted that it’s often made the butt of jokes in popular culture. Yet the reality is that countless survivors of the prison system carry the scars and traumas of sexual abuse—and for many, the perpetrators of these crimes were the very prison staff charged with their protection. Juvenile victims of the prison system are no exception. In Maryland, several adult survivors of sexual abuse as juveniles in state custody have filed a class action lawsuit demanding justice. Lawyer and former DC Council Member LaRuby May joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the class action suit, and the systematic nature of sexual violence in prisons as a form of racial oppression.
Studio Production: David Hebden
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
Mansa Musa: LaRuby May has been a vessel for change for over 30 years. The inspirational lawyer, entrepreneur, developer, teacher, and strategist founded May Jung Law Firm alongside long-time friend and business partner Je Yon Jung. May Jung’s mission is to unapologetically advocate for people of color and empower them to be whole and active participants in the civil justice system. Prior to practicing law, LaRuby served as the council member representing Ward 8 in the District of Columbia. Her latest fight is around survivors of sexual abuse in Maryland, more specifically juveniles. Welcome to Rattling the Bars.
LaRuby May: Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me, Mansa. I appreciate being here.
Mansa Musa: Okay. Let me give my audience some context: In 2023, the governor of the State of Maryland, Wes Moore, signed into law the Child Protection Act – You can unpack wherever I’m off track when you get on – Under this, he eliminated the statute of limitation of being able to bring a civil suit against anyone that was an employee or contractor within the state of Maryland to bring litigation against them for sexual abuse. This came on the heels of a report that this attorney general for the state of Maryland put out indicting the archdiocese of sexual abuse of children.
Prior to that, the advocacy was always around trying to get something done about child sexual abuse and trying to be able to get some compensation. But more importantly, try to make people aware that this was an ongoing thing and that people were harmed and damaged by this. It was only after the signing of this law that it became apparent that it wasn’t only the archdiocese but other institutions that were responsible and involved in abusing children; One institution was Juvenile Services, in particular. May, why did you choose to get in this space in particular? Because this space is fraught with problems on a lot of levels. Why did you choose to get in this space?
LaRuby May: Thank you for that question. My law firm, May Jung, our motto is “Justice for our people is personal.” Having folks who’ve been touched by and part of the juvenile justice system, the Department of Corrections, that’s all very personal to me. You know what I mean? Whether or not it’s from family members, immediate family members, or other family members. The opportunity that we have as a law firm to be able to go and hold people accountable for harm – Specifically harm that’s happening disproportionately to Black and Brown folks, to Black and Brown children – Is the privilege that I have. So how dare I not get involved in being able to protect children? Specifically, individuals who have been harmed while they were in the custody of the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Services, or the state of Maryland.
We have a lawyer in our firm named Jessica who’s already done some work around child abuse in the state of Maryland. As you mentioned, once Governor Wes Moore signed the Maryland Child Victims Act into law in 2023 – And we’re based here in Washington D.C., man, that’s our backyard – We knew that the opportunity to get into this space as a Black and Brown woman-owned law firm, to fight for Black and Brown children, is something that it wasn’t optional for me, Mansa. I don’t get the opportunity, I don’t have the privilege to not fight when I see injustice. The privilege of being a lawyer gives me the right to say you know what? When our people have been harmed, let’s go and fight this fight. When this law went into place, what happened is now our brothers and sisters who are returning from home or who were in juvenile facilities, now have the opportunity to file civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse.
The talk about this was around the Catholic, the archdiocese, and children in the custody of their care; We weren’t looking at the overwhelming number of Black and Brown children who were in juvenile facilities who were also sexually abused by staff members and contractors. Quite frankly, some of these institutions knew that this was happening and they did nothing to protect our children.
Mansa Musa: Let’s unpack this. We’re talking about a situation where, if you’ve got something that’s current, then you can be up on… This calls for identifying plaintiffs and getting somebody to come forward and feel comfortable enough to get around the stigma attached to the victimization like when a person is raped. And this is a cliche but this is a reality when it comes to poor and oppressed people: As opposed to being victimized, you take the victim and say like, oh, had you not gone this way, you would’ve never had this happen to you. It’s because you went down the wrong street that somebody came out and brutalized you in this system.
How do you go about identifying plaintiffs? What’s your methodology? And how do you help them understand the trauma and get them to understand that it’s their right to come forth and get the accuser? If it is more about I’m letting you know now, it might have happened 20 years ago but I’m now in your face to let you know that it was wrong, I had a problem with it, and – If I’m going to get compensated, so be it – I want people to know of what you did. How do you get people to come forward?
LaRuby May: It’s hard. That’s why we’re grateful for folks like you who are in the space that are allowing us an opportunity to talk to folks in the space because identifying folks … We have folks that were abused as children and they have some of that shame and some of that victim mentality so they haven’t told folks. We have folks that have been abused when they were 13 and 14 years old and now they’re 40 years old and they’ve never told anyone because of the shame. That makes it difficult for them to say I was one of them – especially for Black men.
It’s a catch-22. If they were assaulted or molested by a woman, it makes it a little bit different; It’s almost like they’re not necessarily ashamed of that. But if they were abused, molested, or raped by a male, there’s definitely some stigma that comes around that for them and there’s shame to go and talk to folks about it. We continue to go out there, talk, and touch as many people as we can. And touch people who already have relationships with our brothers and sisters who were a part of the system and potentially violated by individuals in the system.
We’re going to continue to talk, we’re going to continue to empower people, and say this was not your fault; You were a victim, you were a child. The state of Maryland was in charge of your care, they were responsible for making sure that you were rehabilitated, and we know what the systems are like, the rehabilitation of the system, and how it works and how it doesn’t work. But your family members, your mothers, the court system entrusted your care to the Department of Juvenile Services while you were there, while you were vulnerable. Many times, I’ve talked to some of our clients – Especially their first time going in — Who was scared.
Mansa Musa: Right. Oh, that’s a reality.
LaRuby May: Yeah, yeah. I’m scared and now I got these people who I’m supposed to be able to trust, these people who are supposed to help me are now violating me and taking advantage of that and it’s a large hurdle to overcome but that’s why we’re here.
Mansa Musa: We’re talking about anyone that was employed in the state of Maryland – Anyone be it contractual or 1099, W2, anybody that was getting any money from the state of Maryland – That violated a kid or juvenile while they were under the care of Juvenile Services. But how do we look at the agency? Do we look at the Juvenile Services agent as being a defendant in it? When we’re looking at Bobby Smith and all those involved are we saying that we are looking at just Bobby Smith?
LaRuby May: We’re looking at everybody that’s involved because Bobby Smith was a bad person if he was the offender but many times the culture at the facility allowed for this to happen. The department was entrusted with the care. These individuals had obligations to train folks, monitor folks, and make sure that they were putting non-offenders around our children, especially when they were in such vulnerable positions. So we want to hold everyone accountable: We want to hold the state accountable, we want to hold each facility accountable, and we want to hold all of the individuals accountable that did the harm. But ultimately, this is a systemic problem.
This isn’t us saying that this happened to one person a year or one person in the past 20 years – Thousands, literally thousands, of individuals who were in these 13 different facilities were molested, raped, and violated as children. It’s important to understand – Especially for the audience – You are a child, you were not an adult. No one deserves to be violated. Even if you’re an adult, you don’t deserve to be violated. But as a child especially, to be violated by any adult that was entrusted with your care.
Mansa, we’re not going to know; These young brothers and sisters, they’re not going to know whether or not you were an employee, 1099, worked for the state, or worked for the contractor. What they’re going to know is you were an adult who was supposed to be a counselor, admissions person, teacher, or kitchen staff. All they’re going to know is that you were an adult who took advantage of them and abused them, and most of the time they felt helpless and powerless to be able to fight against you and then to go and tell somebody. But we have clients who did go and tell. Do you know what happened when they told? Nothing.
The systemic issues within the facilities were such a part of the culture that it still went… We talked to folks that, when they told that someone abused them, that someone violated them, the child was transferred to a different facility, and the individual was not held responsible. That’s what we’re very thankful to do right now. Multiple firms have filed litigation but we are very thankful to be the first firm and the only firm to have filed this as a class-action lawsuit because we want our individuals to get remedy, we want to hold folks accountable for the harm that they did to our young people, but, Mansa, we also want systemic change. We can’t accept it.
One of the great things in the leadership of Governor Wes Moore and Attorney General Brown is looking at removing the statute of limitations, that means this could have happened to you last week, last year, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or 50 years ago and because there are no statute of limitations, you can now bring those claims. But that’s not enough. We still have children that are getting abused as recently as –
Mansa Musa: As we speak, yeah.
LaRuby May: – Yeah, as we speak. We have to have changes in the system that are focused on protecting our children.
Mansa Musa: This is a point that needs to be emphasized. We’re seeing this history around crime and we have this Herod mentality: Find the savior that’s supposed to come and kill all the firstborn. We have this firstborn mentality of locking all our kids up and throwing away the key. It’s in that environment that this type of behavior festers because now you have a situation where you have children being locked up in astronomical numbers and being put into an environment where there’s not a lot of control in terms of what goes on. So to get that control, you become more abusive and that becomes your way of getting control. Locking kids in solitary confinement. And if you isolate them enough, get to the point where they’re mentally incapable of dealing with it and that opens the door for this type of behavior.
In this litigation, how do you all articulate that? You said it’s systemic, how do you all articulate that in your facts? How do you all make people aware that this is not isolated, that this is not whack, this is not Charles, this is not Hickey, this is not Boy’s Village, this is not this institution, this is a general mentality like the archdiocese. When they came out and indicted them, it became apparent throughout the country that this was a behavior that was going on, but you can juxtapose what’s going on with Black and Brown children in these juvenile facilities with the same thing. How do you all get people to understand that?
LaRuby May: When it comes to the lawsuit – As we talk about all 13 facilities and whether or not these facilities have been closed or these facilities are still open – We recognize that it is not just one facility. It’s saying, we’ve got to look at all of the facilities that were run by the department and look at all of the practices and all of the people in these facilities. If it were one isolated center then you’d be like, maybe it’s not systemic; But when we look across all of the systems, all of the facilities that were under the control or the jurisdiction of the department, we see the theme is that it’s happening at every facility, that it’s happening to all of our children: It’s happening to boys, it’s happening to girls, and, unfortunately, the disproportionate number of Black and Brown children that are being incarcerated means that there’s going to be a disproportionate number of children that are violated who are also going to be Black and Brown children.
One of the things that we’ve failed our children on many times in these facilities is we’re locking them up and whatever the reason is that they got locked up, we’re not helping them deal and cope with the trauma. On top of that, while they’re in there, they’re being even more traumatized. Post-traumatic syndrome, it’s real. Trauma is real and what we see in some cases. Some individuals were victims and traumatized while they were in juvenile facilities and they’ve been able to go on and live productive lives and still be able to maybe suppress the trauma that they’re in. But in other situations what we see is individuals have continued to repeat behaviors because the trauma has never been addressed. Then –
Mansa Musa: Yeah.
LaRuby May: – Go ahead. I’m sorry.
Mansa Musa: No, go ahead, go ahead. You finish that thought.
LaRuby May: We wonder why a brother that’s incarcerated at the age of 45 started getting incarcerated when he was younger – It’s because when you arrested him when he was 13 you didn’t do anything to help him or help his family. Other than, like you said, lock him up and put him in solitary confinement. You never helped him deal with the trauma. We see that trauma sometimes can lead to continued behavior that allows for them to, not only have been incarcerated as juveniles but now to be incarcerated as an adult. And we look at him and he’s this or she’s that without the full context of the system helped to make them.
Mansa Musa: Right, right. Created that, yeah.
LaRuby May: Yeah, the system created that. That’s a part of the accountability that we want to hold for the system, that you not only allowed for these babies to be violated when they were children but then you allowed for this behavior to continue and that’s why we see some of our brothers and sisters still currently incarcerated.
Mansa Musa: Okay. I want you to address two things.
LaRuby May: Mm-hmm.
Mansa Musa: Early in the system, they had the Department of Juvenile Services outsourced. So they might outsource foster care and they would have children in, instead of sending them to an institution, they would say, I’m going to send you here but you’re under the jurisdiction of the Department of Juveniles. Have you all identified that mechanism? And two, talk about why people should understand this issue, in terms of its importance of it. As you were talking, in my mind I’m saying, if we indicted the archdiocese everybody can be like yeah… A lot of the folks that were violated, ethnicity is such that they got a little bit more prominence in that regard, and if you’re talking about poor people. Talk about why this issue should be given the same attention and get the same results as when people come out and talk about being victimized by the archdiocese. Talk about those two things if you can.
LaRuby May: Okay. Say the first question first again.
Mansa Musa: The first question deals with the Juvenile Department.
LaRuby May: Oh, the facility.
Mansa Musa: So, they had a situation where people got in that space and said, we’ll become a foster parent, you can send them to us; Whatever the condition is, you send them to us and we’re getting paid for supervising them. Children have been abused in that system. And the other one is the archdiocese and how we look at it.
LaRuby May: Okay, yeah. We haven’t specifically looked at individuals who were violated or abused while they were in foster care or while they were in the custody of the state of Maryland through Child Family Services or other services. I would believe if there was an individual who was… Many times, you are a ward of the state, you are in the custody of the state. If there was an employee or an adult that was affiliated with the state who violated a young person while they were in their care, we want to talk to that person as well, we want to talk to those people as well. But this lawsuit specifically focuses on individuals who were in the custody of a juvenile facility, of one of the 13 facilities that we’ve named in our complaint.
The other part about it is we understand money and we understand the economy. We know people tend to care about people that other people care about, and people don’t care about Black folk and people don’t care about poor folk as much as they care about our white counterparts or our more affluent counterparts. But for us, that doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve justice. In fact, for us, that means that we need to fight even harder for you. Lots of attention, lots of resources around… Especially young boys who were altar boys in the Catholic Church, we saw a prevalence of white folk that were in that litigation.
But our Black and Brown brothers and sisters who were in juvenile facilities, guess what? Their mothers love them as much as those altar boys, their daddies love them as much as… We love our children as much as anybody else loves their children, so how dare a system not be sensitive and not consider a child just because you have an interface with the law? I’ve interacted with folks that, yup, he stole, yes, he went to juvenile but he was stealing because he was hungry.
Mansa Musa: Right, right, right. It’s a social connection.
LaRuby May: Yeah.
Mansa Musa: It’s a social connection. Yeah, it is.
LaRuby May: So, now he or she gets treated differently because he didn’t go to a church, because of his skin color, or because of where he lived in the neighborhood. For me, my law firm, and this litigation, that doesn’t work because that’s my niece, that’s my nephew, that’s my little cousin. To make sure that we’re fighting for justice for individuals who have formerly been incarcerated or may be currently incarcerated, to us, they deserve no less justice than anyone else. And we’re going to continue to fight for that justice and are looking for the opportunity to talk to more folks who were in the facilities.
Mansa, it’s important for me to let you and your audience know that we do not use your name. Even in our lawsuit, it’s listed as a John Doe or a Jane Doe because this is about holding accountability, this isn’t about trying to put people on blast. We recognize that folks are still going through trauma. We work to try to make sure clients get connected to mental health services to be able to deal with the trauma. Not only the trauma of the past but when I ask you to talk about what happened to you 20 years ago, that’s going to trigger trauma again. To be able to make sure that we can provide or help you get connected to resources is an important part of the work that we do.
Mansa Musa: All right. As we close out, tell our audience how they can get in touch with you if they have a family member that knows somebody, or if they’re interested in trying to help you advocate, or get a copy of the litigation.
LaRuby May: Oh, absolutely. If you want information as it relates to this, if you or a family member were violated or abused while you were in one of the juvenile facilities in the state of Maryland, you can give us a call. Our phone number is 1-833 May, M-A-Y-J-U-N-G, the name of our firm, May Jung, which is 1-833-629-5864. Again, that’s 1-833-629-5864. If you are a victim, if you know of a victim… And everything is held with us in complete confidentiality in terms of your talking to us and letting us know what happened to you. I work with many providers who are doing housing with our brothers and sisters who are returning citizens.
So if you’re an advocate or an activist working in the field, we want to talk and connect with you. The other thing that we realize is that we want to connect to people who are already connected to the folks who have been victims so that we can continue to leverage those trusting relationships. Again, 1-833-629-5864 is how you can get connected. My name is LaRuby and you can also email me; My email address is LaRuby, L-A-R-U-B-Y@M-A-Y-J-U-N-G.com, laruby@mayjung.com. Feel free to email me or give us a call.
Mansa Musa: Yeah. Thank you, LaRuby, for coming on Rattling the Bars. You definitely rattled the bar today. We want to emphasize this to our audience: We’re talking about our children. We’re talking about children. No matter what they look like today, 50 years old, they were a child when this happened to them and nobody has the right to abuse a child. Nobody has the right to take advantage of a child because they have the ability to. More importantly, when our children are taken into custody of Juvenile Services or any services, our children should be protected. We want to encourage everyone to reach out to LaRuby and the firm and educate themselves on this issue. But more importantly, we want you to continue to rattle the bars and continue to support real news. Thank you, LaRuby.
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