SPOKANE, Wash. – Fifteen Washington residents who were previously incarcerated at the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center testified that they were sexually abused by detention center guards in a lawsuit filed against Spokane County.
The said that sexual abuse offenses committed by detention center guards were ongoing from 1983 to 2010.
The offenses include grooming and sexual abuse and were “brazen,” the lawsuit says. The lawsuit includes testimonies from former inmates who recounted how they were forced to endure acts of masturbation, oral sex, and vaginal and oral rape.
The residents were aged twelve to seventeen when they were abused, the lawsuit said.
Connelly Law Offices, a law group based in Spokane, filed the lawsuit and fifteen individuals who’s testimonies are built into the lawsuit are included as plaintiffs.
“The abuse was the product of extraordinary negligence by Defendant Spokane County and leaves a legacy of traumatized victims,” the lawsuit says. “Taken together, the acts of these serial sex predators spanned decades and demonstrate a continuing failure by Defendant Spokane County to protect vulnerable kids within their care.”
The lawsuit, which was submitted by Connelly Law Offices, identifies two guards as serial sex offenders, compiling evidence from different former inmates who, “almost without exception, don’t know each other.”
The lawsuit identifies two guards in specific who repeatedly sexually abused children at the Detention Center.
One guard, William Lamb, worked as a guard and supervisor at the Juvenile Detention Center from 1999 to 2016. The other, Rafael Gray, was hired as a correctional guard at the Juvenile Detention Facility in 1983 and was employed there “for decades,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges over two dozen instances of sexual abuse, some of which are identified as only the first of many, that took place at the detention center.
Ultimately, the plaintiffs claim that “Spokane County failed to take even minimal precautions in supervising its employees and protecting youth in its custody,” and seeks justice for the lifelong trauma and violations each victim suffered.
Connelly Law Offices’ website said that others who experienced sexual abuse while incarcerated at the Spokane Juvenile Detention Center who want to speak to a member of their team can call them at (253)-271-4349.
They add that others who may have witnessed the abuse of another person can contact them as well.
NonStop Local reached out to Connelly Law Offices’ Spokane office for comment but has not yet heard back.
NonStop Local also reached out to Spokane County for comment but has not yet heard back.
The lawsuit comes in the midst of a wave of investigative journalism work into Idaho’s prison system, sharing testimony from women who were sexually abused by prison guards.
The reporting is a part of regional news outlet InvestigateWest’s “Guarded by Predators” series, which was first released on October 12, 2025 and has been reposted in local publications like the Inlander, Spokane Public Radio and Range.
