A pair of Cook County Jail detainees are alleging sheriff’s deputies encouraged a third inmate to tie them up and sexually assault them at knifepoint after one of them complained about forced sexual encounters with a guard in the jail complex.
The alleged misconduct is outlined in a lawsuit filed Thursday, which contends the attack came after one of the inmates had made a prior complaint about a nonconsensual sex with a female correctional officer.
The suit, which names Cook County and Sheriff Tom Dart, alleges officials aided and abetted gender-based violence, infliction of emotional distress and other conduct in connection with two alleged rounds of retaliation. It seeks a minimum of $50,000 in damages.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that it “strongly disputes the allegations” in the suit, which names neither the detainees represented in the complaint or the officers allegedly involved.
“Prior to this lawsuit, the Sheriff’s Office opened an internal investigation and is working diligently to determine the actual, factual, circumstances of this case – including the underlying allegations that led to this lawsuit — and will aggressively pursue every disciplinary action and criminal charge that can be supported by the evidence,” the statement read.
According to the complaint, both detainees, who are male, are held pending trial in Division IX, a maximum-security portion of Cook County Jail.
The suit alleges that the first detainee had nonconsenting sex with the female guard “on numerous occasions” in January 2025, and that the guard’s supervisors were aware of that pattern. According to the complaint, that detainee submitted a complaint to the Sheriff’s Office of Professional Review about the alleged sex.
A second correctional officer who allegedly had “romantic history” with the female guard later encouraged another detainee to hit the inmate in the back of the head with a digital tablet in what the lawsuit described as retaliation for that internal complaint. The suit states that the sheriff’s office of internal affairs then opened a probe into the alleged tablet attack.
The two plaintiffs, who are cellmates, allegedly suffered more retaliation when a third inmate was placed in their cell with them in late April, per the filing. The lawsuit alleges that guards placed the third inmate in the cell with the two plaintiffs “with the objective of causing (the first plaintiff) serious physical harm.” It further states that the two plaintiffs thought complaining about the third man would be “futile and even physically dangerous.”
According to the complaint, the third inmate allegedly remained in the cell overnight, through multiple rounds of checks by the sheriff’s deputies. The cell received four breakfast trays that morning, the complaint states, which the plaintiffs believed to be a bribe to the third inmate in their cell.
After several hours, the third inmate allegedly used the two plaintiff’s toothbrushes and a wadded-up milk carton to jam the cell door shut, took out a concealed knife and threatened to cut out their eyes, according to the suit.
The complaint then alleges that he tied up both plaintiffs with “shredded sheets” and assaulted them both while holding them in a chokehold, with the knife in his other hand.
Sheriff’s staff members arrived to discuss the original complaint against the female correctional officer the next morning, the complaint states. The complaint alleges that the third inmate stood out of the investigators’ sight with the knife and threatened the first plaintiff with consequences if he did not “make them go away as soon as possible.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Richard Dvorak, called on the sheriff’s office to do a full investigation into the allegations laid out in the complaint and said he planned to forward a copy of the complaint to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office as well.
The case is set for a first hearing June 25, court records show.