Crime & Law

Incarcerated Women Allege Sexual Abuse, Retaliation at Logan Correctional Center

When Savannah Long complained about sexual abuse from a correctional officer, she alleges the credits that would have reduced her incarceration were stripped away.

“Savannah’s ordeal, while shocking, is tragically common,” a legal filing states.

Seven current and formerly incarcerated women filed federal lawsuits over the last week alleging sexual assault, harassment and institutional retaliation at Illinois’ primary women’s prison, Logan Correctional Center. Several legal groups, including Uptown People’s Law Center and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, are representing the women.

The lawsuits allege sexual abuse from staff that was met with retaliation when reported, sometimes in the form of disciplinary tickets or solitary confinement. Other times, they were just ignored. Some of the women were in a particularly vulnerable position inside the prison’s mental health units.

There’s a common culture demonstrated in all the cases that is tolerant of abuse, said Elizabeth Payne, legal director at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation.

“There’s this culture — IDOC officials, going all the way up to the director, have known about it for years and have done nothing to remedy it,” said Nicole Schult, the legal director at Uptown People’s Law Center.

Illinois Department of Corrections spokesperson Naomi Puzzello said the department is unable to comment on active litigation, but it “takes seriously the safety and well-being of all individuals in its custody and ensuring a safe and secure environment is our highest priority.”

Since 2021, there have been 223 Prison Rape Elimination Act complaints filed by those incarcerated alleging sexual abuse at Logan, according to a lawsuit. Of that, Logan investigators have substantiated  5.82% of those claims. Eighty-five of those allegations were of sexual abuse committed by Logan staff against incarcerated people. 

Sometimes, that abuse is coming from those who are assigned to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct, filings allege.

Lynnette Gherna alleges that she was sexually assaulted by a man who works in Logan’s Internal Affairs Unit. He warned her that his position in Internal Affairs “vested him with the power to help or hurt her.”

Her fears of retaliation came to fruition, the lawsuit states, and her work release at Fox Valley Adult Transition Center was revoked without legitimate cause when her complaints against the officer became known to Fox Valley staff.

This isn’t the first time Logan has faced legal action for sexual assault. In 2023, a jury awarded $19 million to a woman who said she was raped by a staff member while incarcerated at Logan.

Coming back to similar issues years later, Schult, who represented the woman, said it’s “disappointing” that there hasn’t been change.

But Schult hopes this lawsuit can bring the change that the seven women who filed want to see.

“Part of that change is that other women feel empowered to speak up when this happens to them,” Schult said. “Hopefully it doesn’t happen to them, but when it does, they don’t feel afraid or guilty or scared.”

Note: This article has been updated with a comment from the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock.bsky.social‬ | [email protected]

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