WASHINGTON — D.C. turned a blind eye for years to the sexual assault of children at the city’s youth detention center, according to a lawsuit filed in D.C. Superior Court.

The suit alleges the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) and the Youth Services Center (YSC) ignored repeated assaults by a former corrections officer, Kelvin Powell , on a then-17-year-old girl. The assaults only stopped when a social worker filed a report with Child and Family Services.

“Our client was locked in a cell and then a predator was given the keys to that cell,” attorney Bernadette Armand said. “Shame!”

Powell, 63, was convicted last month of 16 felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor and sexual abuse of a ward or prisoner. Under D.C. law, he could face 15 years or more in prison at his s

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