Study Estimates 4.4 Percent of Inmates Are Sexually Victimized in Prisons
An estimated 4.4 percent of prison inmates and 3.1 percent of jail inmates are reporting incidents of sexual victimization while incarcerated, according to a study released by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The inmates were surveyed between October 2008 and December 2009, and asked whether they had been sexually victimized in the past year, or since their incarceration if it was less than a year in length, according to a press release.
Sexual victimization numbers included nonconsensual sex and abusive sexual contacts with other prisoners, and both willing and unwilling sex and sexual contacts with staff members.
One percent of inmates in prisons, and slightly less than 1 percent in jails, reported nonconsensual sex acts with other prisoners, according to the report (PDF). And 1.3 percent of inmates in prisons, and 1.1 percent in jails, reported unwilling sexual activity, excluding touching, with staff members.
The report is being cited by prison reformers who want the Department of Justice to adopt stricter standards to help prevent prison rape, according to The Hill’s Healthwatch blog. Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU National Prison Project, commented in a press release that the numbers “are further proof that rape and other forms of sexual abuse continue to be major problems in our nation’s prisons and jails and that much more needs to be done to combat these ongoing scourges.”
More than 76,000 inmates completed the computer-assisted survey, administered to more than 81,500 inmates held in 167 state and federal prisons, 286 jails, and 10 special confinement facilities. The Bureau of Justice Statistics weighted the numbers to produce nationwide and facilitywide estimates.
Female prisoners were more likely to report sexual victimization by another prisoner than males, the press release says. Also reporting higher rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization in prisons and jails were inmates who: are white or multiracial, possess a college degree or more, are gay or bisexual, or have experienced a sexual victimization before imprisonment.
Of the inmates whose sexual orientation is gay or bisexual, 11.2 percent reported sexual victimization by another inmate, and 6.6 percent reported sexual victimization by a staffer.
Additional coverage:
ABA Journal: “Hunting Rapists Behind Bars”
