In many women’s prisons, male corrections officers are allowed to watch the women when they are dressing, showering, or using the toilet, and some guards regularly harass women prisoners. Women also report groping and other sexual abuse by male staff during pat frisks and searches. For victims of prior abuse, this environment further exacerbates their trauma.

 

• There were a reported 24,661 allegations of sexual victimization by inmates in 2015, an amount nearly triple that of 2011. Of the 24,661 allegations, 1,473 were considered substantiated. Of these substantiated incidents, 58% were perpetrated by inmates and 42% by staff (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018).
• Between 2012 and 2015, there were a total of 67,169 allegations. Investigations for 61,322 of these allegations were conducted, 5,187 of which were substantiated (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018).
• Between 2011 and 2015, allegations in prisons increased 180 percent (from 6,660 to 18,666), and in jails it went up 184 percent (from 2,047 to 5,809) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018).
• Officials reported less than 8,800 incidents of sexual victimization in American prisons and jails in 2011, however between 3 percent and 9 percent of male prisoners say they have been sexually victimized, indicating that more than 180,000 current prisoners are likely to have been victimizaed (Gilson, 2019).
• Inmates of private prisons are half as likely to say they have been sexually victimized by other inmates as those who were in public prisons; however, they are about twice as likely to report sexual victimization by staff (Gilson, 2019).
• “66% of incidents of sexual misconduct by prison staff involve sexual relationships with inmates who “appeared to be willing,” according to authorities” (Gilson, 2019).
• Women consist of 7% of the total prison population, 22% of all victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization, and 33% of all victims of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization (Gilson, 2019).
• The amount of inmate-on-inmate assaults was 38 percent higher in private prisons than in public ones (Gilson, 2019).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2018). Bureau of justice statistics – Sexual victimization reported by adult correctional authorities, 2012-15 – Press release. Retrieved from

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/svraca1215pr.cfm.

Gilson, D. (2019). What we know about violence in America’s prisons. Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/attacks-and-assaults-behind-bars-cca-private-prisons/.

Media retrieved from http://www.calcasa.org/2010/11/sexual-assault-in-prison-who-get-assaulted/.