Sauder Schelkopf is investigating potential litigation on behalf of current and former prisoners at the Lowell Correctional Institution who were sexually abused. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded in part, “Lowell fails to protect women prisoners from harm due to sexual abuse by staff.”
On December 22, 2020, the Department of Justice issued a press release which stated in part:
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida today concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the conditions at Lowell Correctional Institution (Lowell) in Ocala, Florida, violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. Specifically, the department concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that Lowell fails to protect prisoners from sexual abuse by the facility’s staff.
“I disagree with the conclusions of that report,” DOC Secretary Mark Inch said during a budget presentation to the Senate Appropriations Criminal Justice Subcommittee in Tallahassee.
It was further reported that Inch stated to the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee “I absolutely, and our agency, takes every allegation of sexual abuse seriously. But I disagree with the conclusions of that report[.]”
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division REPORT
These are only allegations and have not at this time been proven in court.
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Experience Matters
Sauder Schelkopf has a nationally recognized litigation practice. Our former prosecutors have extensive experience representing victims of all ages. The Legal Intelligencer named Sauder Schelkopf partner Joe Sauder to its 2020 Pennsylvania Trailblazers. The honor recognizes 31 lawyers who “have taken extra measures to contribute to positive outcomes . . . and who are truly agents of change.” The Legal highlights Mr. Sauder’s innovative work on advocacy as class counsel in large institutional sex abuse cover-ups, women’s, and children’s rights.
- We have been court-appointed as Interim Co-Class Counsel to represent former students of the University of Michigan who were victims of sexual misconduct by Dr. Robert E. Anderson, former director of University Health Service, and a former athletic team physician, who worked at the University of Michigan from 1968 until his retirement in 2003.
- Sauder Schelkopf, and co-counsel, recently reached a $215 million settlement on behalf of female patients of Dr. George Tyndall, a gynecologist at the University of Southern California accused of sexual misconduct since the 1990s.
- We currently represent hundreds of individuals whose rights were violated while they were detained in a juvenile detention facility. Sauder Schelkopf and co-counsel filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former students of The Glen Mills Schools who allege that they were physically and mentally abused while attending the School.
- We have represented survivors of clergy sexual abuse in dioceses throughout the country.
- We have a class action lawsuit pending on behalf of males who were victims of sexual misconduct by Dr. Richard Strauss, the Ohio State team doctor, while they were students and student-athletes at Ohio State University.
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If you are a survivor of physical and/or sexual abuse, you can confidentially contact the lawyers at Sauder Schelkopf by filling out the form on this page or calling 888.711.9975