Boy in SC juvy attacked by employees and ‘made to fight’ with other children, lawsuit says
A new Beaufort County lawsuit claims a child in custody of the SC Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ) was attacked by agency employees and forced to fight with other children.
Filed Friday in the county’s civil court, the suit names the SCDJJ and AMIKids Beaufort as defendants. AMIKids is a national nonprofit, based in Tampa, Fla that offers services and residential treatment for troubled children in the juvenile justice system. The organization’s Beaufort branch is a partner of the SCDJJ, according to their website.
Court documents allege the boy was attacked multiple times by SCDJJ and AMIKids Beaufort employees and “made to fight” with other children in custody, leading to severe injuries. The incidents took place over the last year and primarily in 2023, said Daniel Boles, the Charleston attorney representing the child.
Additional details on the alleged assaults, including which SCDJJ facility in which they took place, were not immediately available.
Boles said he has taken on over 10 cases involving child mistreatment at SCDJJ facilities in the last five years, but he hasn’t seen a difference in the way the agency operates.
“I wish they were doing a better job,” the attorney said of the SCDJJ. “It’s supposed to be rehabilitative; it continues to be a prison.”
Investigating brutality within the SCDJJ is more difficult than in the adult prison system, Boles added, because juveniles’ information is held to a stricter standard of confidentiality.
Representatives from AMIKids Beaufort and the group’s attorney declined to comment. A spokesperson for the SCDJJ did not respond to multiple requests for comment by deadline.
