“She was just a child. She was supposed to be getting help. Instead, the worst thing we could imagine happened to her—and she wasn’t the only one.” —Martin D. Gould, Attorney, Gould Grieco & Hensley PLLC
Instead, they were subjected to violence and rape.
A generation of abuse at Acadia’s Detroit Behavioral Institute (DBI) has recently been brought to light. In March 2025, three women—Jane Does 1, 2 and 3—filed a lawsuit against the facility over atrocities they say they endured between 2017 and 2018. Jane Doe 1 said a staff member stabbed her with car keys in retaliation for reporting a DBI staff assault to her mother, who alerted Child Protective Services. At 15, Jane Doe 2 said a supervisor sexually assaulted her. At 16, Jane Doe 3 said that same supervisor raped her.
Over 40 more survivors have also come forward, saying they, too, endured horrific treatment at DBI.
“When you see repeated complaints, several investigations and ultimately a shutdown, it points to something bigger. Those warning signs were there.”
Most recently, on April 8, 2026, a new lawsuit filed in Wayne County, Michigan, was announced alleging that a 17-year-old Jane Doe endured repeated sexual abuse at the psychiatric facility, including while being physically restrained. The filing further alleges that she witnessed staff abuse other minors.
The case was filed in the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan in Wayne County by Gould Grieco & Hensley PLLC—the same firm behind the 2025 lawsuit. The suit claims that DBI’s corporate owner, Acadia Healthcare, ignored and covered up evidence of abuse, allowing a culture of exploitation to persist for years. The lawsuit seeks damages across 12 counts, including negligence, premises liability and civil conspiracy.
“When you see repeated complaints, several investigations and ultimately a shutdown, it points to something bigger. Those warning signs were there. It was chosen not to be addressed,” said senior attorney Nicholas Wainwright.
No comment is forthcoming from DBI. No protest of innocence. No boilerplate denial of responsibility.
No surprise: There is no DBI left to respond—state officials shut it down four years ago after repeated allegations of abuse and bullying.
Acadia, too, was silent. With more than $3 billion in annual revenue and 258 facilities across 38 states, the organization can afford to sidestep such unpleasantries. Not even major penalties have dented its wallet: $20 million to resolve fraudulent billing claims, $179 million over false quality-of-care statements, and $400 million for three sexual abuse victims at a New Mexico facility.
Acadia is the largest stand-alone behavioral healthcare organization in America, inflicting harm at scale across a system “serving” roughly 75,000 patients daily—enough to populate Kalamazoo, Michigan.
So, will there be a reckoning? What will it take to shut down Acadia and other profit-making monoliths like it that exploit and trample on the rights of innocents to feed an already bloated cash cow?
How many more Jane Does must find their voice to cry out?
A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?
As one of the survivors said, “I want to say I am a voice for many, because while I’m speaking right now, a child is being sexually abused.”
