NYC ACS Secure Detention Facilities

NYC's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) operates secure juvenile detention facilities — locked settings where youth are held. The two secure detention centers currently operating are Horizon Juvenile Center (Bronx) and Crossroads Juvenile Center (Brooklyn). The former Spofford center in the Bronx has since closed.

Since the GMVA lookback window applies, survivors have filed civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse at NYC's ACS secure juvenile detention facilities — more than 539 such suits naming Crossroads (Brooklyn), Horizon (Bronx), and the former Spofford center (Bronx, closed), spanning allegations from the 1960s through recent years. These are allegations that have not been proven in court, and no settlement or admission of liability has been reported. In 2025 a Bronx judge dismissed more than 450 of those suits on standing grounds — a procedural ruling, not a finding that abuse did not occur. The claims are being revived under the GMVA after the City Council reopened an 18-month filing window. ¹³

One criminal matter connected to an ACS secure detention facility (Horizon) is on the public record: in connection with a sexual act involving an 18-year-old detainee — who, as a detainee, was legally incapable of consent due to inmate status, not age — an ACS staff member was arrested and charged with sexual abuse and related counts, and was fired by ACS. That individual has been charged, not convicted; the final disposition of the case is not confirmed in the public record. ²

The GMVA allows survivors to bring civil claims against the institutions connected to alleged abuse. Whether any given claim succeeds is decided in court. A claim may arise from a NYC ACS secure detention facility whether it is still operating or has since closed, because what the law turns on is that the alleged abuse occurred at a NYC institution — not whether the facility is open today.

The public record we can verify here concerns ACS secure detention facilities (Crossroads, Horizon, and the former Spofford center). For ACS non-secure placements, ACS-contracted limited-secure placements, and other NYC detention settings, the public record we can verify is separate and thinner — if you were abused at one of those settings, speak with us about your potential claim and we will tell you honestly where things stand.