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Legal Department Docket, 2002-Present
Fact Sheet - Sexual Abuse of Prisoners

Allegations of sexual abuse of prisoners are not unusual. However, comprehensive national statistics on the number of prisoners sexually victimized by correctional staff do not exist. Separate investigations conducted by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), and the United Nation's Commission on Human Rights all conclude that incidents of custodial sexual misconduct in U.S. prisons and jails are widespread.

The GAO's report, Women in Prison: Sexual Misconduct by Correctional Staff, found that from 1990 to 1995 class action or individual damage suits relating to sexual misconduct had been filed against at least 23 departments of correction. Please go to: http://www.gao.gov/.

Amnesty International's 2001 survey, Abuse of Women in Custody: Sexual Misconduct and Shackling of Pregnant Women, discovered reported allegations of sexual abuse of female prisoners by correctional staff in every correctional system, except Minnesota's. Please go to: http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/custody/abuseincustody.html

According to the GAO's investigation of Texas, California and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, female prisoners reported at least 506 claims of staff-on-prisoner sexual misconduct from1995 to1998.

Despite these numerous complaints, most incidents of custodial sexual misconduct go unreported because of fear of retaliation by correctional staff and the vulnerability felt by prisoners. In interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch for their report, All too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons, women cited their hesitation in filing complaints about staff. Please go to: http://www.hrw.org/summaries/s.us96d.html. One California prisoner told Human Rights Watch, "my friend tried to get me to go tell. I wouldn't do it, out of fear. I envisioned them putting me in the hole [segregation]. People were thrown in the hole there all the time, for anything."

Many times when women do report sexual assaults, their complaints are ignored by prison officials and no decisive action is taken against the accused officers, which discourages other women from making complaints. Human Rights Watch's investigation in Illinois uncovered numerous allegations of sexual assaults perpetrated by one corrections officer on several women. Prisoners and staff at the facility were well aware of the officer's reputation but no disciplinary action was taken against him.

Speaking about a similar situation, one Illinois prisoner told Human Rights Watch, "Seeing him everyday showed me what they thought about it."

The trauma and intimidation experienced by female prisoners victimized by staff is not surprising. A 1999 U.S. Department of Justice study found that half of all women in prison, jail or on probation had been abused prior to incarceration. One third of women in state prisons and a quarter of those in local jails had been raped before incarceration. Please go to: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/parip.pdf. Many women in prison have been victimized throughout their lives. Unfortunately, once they enter the prison system their exploitation continues. They have little reason to believe that the corrections system can or will protect them.

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