Gary Marx – Page 10 –

Youths make decorations out of construction paper during art class.

Residential centers call police to discipline youths for spitting, threats

August 18, 2019 at 6:24 p.m.

Placed in a Wisconsin residential treatment center for youths with behavioral and mental health problems, the teenager ran away for a night to visit his girlfriend. He returned the next...

At Indian Oaks Academy, Meisha Singleton was attacked by peers, repeatedly bullied and taunted, government records show.

Angry lawmakers vow action on problems with residential care for troubled youths

August 18, 2019 at 6:23 p.m.

Public officials on Friday reacted angrily to an ongoing Tribune investigation that found juvenile state wards were assaulted and sexually abused at government-funded residential treatment centers throughout Illinois. Gov.-elect Bruce...

Foster mother KaRon Brooks sought psychiatric services for a boy she had adopted who was placed at Lawrence Hall when he was 9. During one visit, she said, the boy had stitches in one hand and clothes smelling of urine.

At Lawrence Hall, vulnerable kids terrorized, learn life of crime

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

One teenager raped a 50-year-old woman as she walked to the "L" stop at dawn. A second was arrested nine times in one year on charges that included theft, property...

Children attacked, abused at taxpayer-funded living centers

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

In residential treatment centers across Illinois, children are assaulted, sexually abused and running away by the thousands — yet state officials fail to act on reports of harm and continue...

Cleanna Parker-Lewis sits on the front porch of her aunt's house with her cousins. She helps with child care and in her spare time sings and writes "about the struggles of what I go through."

10 years in residential treatment: One girl’s story

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

Cleanna Parker-Lewis came of age in Illinois residential treatment facilities. The state Department of Children and Family Services took protective custody of her when she was only 6 months old,...

MsWhitney Holt plays with her daughter at her apartment in Elk Grove Village. In one incident at Rock River, Holt recalled, "out of nowhere they came up and attacked me from behind."

We felt caged: Seven stories of Rock River Academy

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

In its investigation of Rock River Academy in Rockford, the Tribune examined thousands of pages of confidential juvenile case files and other records but also interviewed 20 former residents for...

Six boys’ stories: Records tell of violence, drug use at Lawrence Hall

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

Lawrence Hall Youth Services promises to provide expert care and close guidance to juvenile state wards with histories of abuse and neglect in its 48-bed residential treatment center in Chicago...

We felt caged: Seven stories of Rock River Academy

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

In its investigation of Rock River Academy in Rockford, the Tribune examined thousands of pages of confidential juvenile case files and other records but also interviewed 20 former residents for...

Rock River Academy in Rockford is a 59-bed facility for juvenile state wards and girls with behavior problems. Many girls said they came out more damaged than when they went in.

Violence at Rock River Academy: ‘I was getting punched, kicked’

August 18, 2019 at 6:21 p.m.

With her belongings in a backpack, 16-year-old Jessica McQueen described wandering the streets of Rockford, begging for food and money. It was a cold day in October, and she had...

Chicago fugitive extradited from Poland

May 12, 2019 at 10:46 p.m.

Polish authorities have returned a fugitive to Chicago to face reckless homicide charges in a 2004 car crash that killed two people. One of several dozen criminal suspects featured in...

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