Sometimes the person who calls is not the person who was harmed. It may be a parent, a partner, a sibling, or a friend of someone who was sexually abused in an Illinois prison or jail. Asking on someone else's behalf is fine, and it happens often. The person involved has no obligation to do anything.
What you learn can help them decide what, if anything, to do next. You do not need to bring a police report, and nobody needs to have been charged. A civil claim asks what the Department of Corrections or the county knew, what it should have known, and what it did.
Attorney Ervin Nevitt, a partner at Coplan + Crane (Illinois bar registration 6319808, admitted 2014), reviews these cases.
What is worth knowing
Adult custody claims run under a different framework from juvenile ones. The Prison Rape Elimination Act sets standards a facility is required to meet.
Whether the facility was state-run or county-run decides the defendant, and the two carry different notice and immunity requirements. State-law claims against the Department of Corrections are brought against the State in the Illinois Court of Claims. Claims against a county jail fall under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act. Because the responsible body is usually public, which one it is matters first.
If your loved one is still inside
Many custody claims are also brought as federal civil-rights claims. Anyone still incarcerated must usually complete the facility's grievance process before filing one. That step should not be skipped, and it is worth passing along.
Who the claim would be against
These claims are usually brought against the Department of Corrections or the county, not only against the individual. Failure to protect is the theory that most often carries them, though several usually run together, and which fits depends on the facts.
Common Questions Around Asking for Someone Else
Does someone have to have been convicted? No. A civil case uses a lower standard of proof than a criminal one and is usually brought against the institution.
They only remember part of it. That is ordinary. These cases are built from institutional records rather than from a complete account.
Will it start a case? No. Nothing is set in motion by asking a question.
What happens when you contact us
You speak with a person, not a form, and nobody has to describe what happened. We look into which institution was responsible, what it knew, what records exist, and whether a claim can still be brought. That work costs nothing.
We tell you plainly what is possible. If the decision is not to go ahead, that is the end of it, and what was shared stays confidential. If the decision is to go ahead, we carry the filings, deadlines, records, and insurers. Steps can be taken to protect identity in the court record.
Call (708) 671-6858 for a free, confidential case review.
