From 1894 to 1977, a juvenile detention center operated under the guise of a school in Geneva, IL. Girls as young as 10 were sent to this facility for “crimes” including being homeless, being pregnant, being sexually assaulted, having a mental illness, etc. Many girls attempted to escape and some even died in the process. Many of them were buried on the grounds of the school. The rest of the school was torn down but the cemetery remains today.
Along the way, Hannah and Lainey discuss the chair, solitary confinement, and where are the babies?!
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussions of child abuse and child death. Listener discretion is advised.
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Sources:
Brian Nam-Sonenstein and Wendy Sawyer, “Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2025” - Prison Policy Initiative, 2025. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2025.html#demographics
Katie Prout, “The ghosts of Geneva’s ‘home for wayward girls’” - Chicago Reader, 2025. https://chicagoreader.com/news/feature-news-politics/illinois-school-prison-history-girls/
Rodney B. Nelson, Who Sadie Cooksey Was: The Brief Life and Troubled Times of Sarah Elizabeth Cooksey - Grant House Press, 2016 https://genevanotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/who-was-sadie-cooksey-18.pdf
Rudy Clai, “The Hauntings of the Geneva Bad Girls School” - WordPress, 2012 https://rudyclai.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/the-hauntings-of-the-geneva-bad-girls-school/
Sophonisba P. Breckinridge and Edith Abbott. "Family paragraphs relating to the delinquency of 50 girls committed to the state training school at Geneva by the Juvenile Court of Cook County at Chicago, Illinois, during the years 1903 to 1908". Appendix V in The Delinquent Child and the Home. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Charities Publication Committee. (1912): 314-332. Accessed September 21, 2025. https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Abbott/Breckinridge_Abbott_1912/Breckinridge_Abbott_1912_16.html
Tara-Mae Wrona, “I Never Thought I’d be so Terrified Investigating a Graveyard Until Tonight” - The Crypt, accessed October 2, 2025.
Tim Bateman and Neal Hazel, “Youth Justice Timeline” - Beyond Youth Custody, 2025. https://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/policy/youth-justice-timeline/
Vegan Street - The Suburban Cemetery for ‘Wayward Girls’ and Their Babies, accessed September 21, 2025 https://www.veganstreet.com/blog/the-suburban-cemetery-for-wayward-girls-and-their-babies
