Teens held in insect-infested cells, tortured with 'Baby Shark' among explosive claims in Kentucky lawsuit

Two teens who say they were kept in isolation at a Kentucky youth detention center, denied basic hygiene and tortured by being forced to listen to a version of "Baby Shark" on a loop have filed a class-action lawsuit against the facility and administrators.

The lawsuit filed on Monday details alleged incidents of abuse at Adair County Juvenile Detention Center against the two teen girls and others held in the facility, including allegations that inmates were:

• Held in isolation and deprived of educational instruction.
• Denied basic hygiene and showers.
• Denied prescribed medications.
• Girls forced to expose their naked bodies to members of the opposite sex.
• Forced to listen to the Spanish version of the toddler’s song “Baby Shark” playing over and over on an audio loop.

The lawsuit also details alleged incidents with other youths at the center, including a teen who spent days soaked in menstrual blood, while at the same time, staffers insulted her about her hygiene.

Other allegations include a suicidal child held in a padded cell without a toilet for weeks. A child was held in an insect-infested room, and girls were not given feminine hygiene products.

The teenage girls in the Lawsuit were isolated with limited showers during their entire stay at the Adair facility. One girl, who was 17 and seven months pregnant, said she was allowed out of her cell five times in a month. The other girl was kept in isolation for four months, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit names state officials Kerry Harvey, Vicki Reed, and others. Harvey, currently the Justice Cabinet secretary, will retire at the end of the month. Reed, former Department of Juvenile Justice director, retired on Jan. 1. 

David Kazee, the division director of the Office of Detention in the Department of Juvenile Justice, and George Scott, an executive director in the Department of Juvenile Justice, were also named in the suit. According to personnel records obtained by WAVE News, Kazee and Scott were demoted in November 2023.

The two teens who filed the lawsuit are now adults and no longer in the Department of Juvenile Justice's custody, their attorney, Laura Landenwich, told the Herald-Leader.

The lawsuit states that alleged male officers regularly conducted cell checks on girls and detained them without clothing — and that male officers forcibly removed inmates' clothing while in front of other employees and other detainees.

"Talking to these girls, it's just so tragic, just the entire experience. It's intolerable to treat people the way they've been treated," Landenwich told the Herald-Leader.

Previous issues at Adair County Juvenile Detention Center

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed a complaint last year with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, seeking an investigation into the poor living conditions of the detention center.

A report issued last year from the state Department of Public Advocacy also said he facility violates youths' rights by subjecting them to non-behavior isolation, which involves being locked alone in their cells for prolonged periods without committing any offenses, the Herald-Leader reported.

History of Adair County Juvenile Detention Center

The detention center made headlines in November 2022 when inmates were involved in a "violent riot," according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. The disturbance began when a juvenile inmate attacked a staff member and sent detention workers to the hospital with serious injuries.

Following that and other violent incidents at juvenile facilities, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's administration implemented new policies. The policies required male juveniles facing serious charges to be placed in separate facilities and a female-only detention center to be established in northern Kentucky.