Columbus teenager Damarion Allen was paralyzed from the chest down after a fight with another detainee inside the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center.
Allen was 15 when he was paralyzed after a fight with another detainee inside the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center, according to WOSU Public Media. The injury left him paralyzed from the chest down and led to an 80-day hospital stay, as The Columbus Dispatch previously reported.
A Lawsuit Still Working Through the Courts
Allen and his mother, Mary Washington, sued Franklin County employees, alleging the staff failed to prevent the fight that paralyzed him and that their actions afterward worsened his injuries, per the same WOSU report. The lawsuit has been working its way through Ohio's court system for years without a final resolution.
As recently as January, the case was still unsettled. The 10th District Court of Appeals heard arguments on Jan. 14 over whether two Franklin County employees, Talia Sumney and Latashia Lewis, should be granted immunity for their actions on the day Allen was paralyzed, the Dispatch reported at the time.
A Detention Center With a History of Violence
The facility where Allen was paralyzed has recorded repeated violence among detainees in the years since. Franklin County Juvenile Court data showed youths assaulted other youths 179 times and assaulted staff 28 times at the detention center during 2024, according to a report from Yahoo News.
That same report found the detention center sent 32 youths to hospital emergency rooms in 2024, though it noted some of those visits stemmed from injuries unrelated to fights. The report also pointed to a broader pattern beyond the facility's walls: four in 10 teens released from state youth prisons end up incarcerated again, either as juveniles or adults, within three years.
