Half of Sexual Assaults in Jail and Prison Committed by Guards and most by Female Staff

[The Straight Story]

Sexual assaults are on the rise in America’s prisons and jails, largely because of prison guards, particularly female ones.

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced (pdf) 8,763 allegations of sexual attacks were reported in 2011, “a statistically significant increase over the number of allegations reported in 2009 (7,855) and 2010 (8,404).”

Nearly half (49%) of the 2011 allegations involved prison guards or staff.

Furthermore, more than half (54%) of all reports involving guards or staff that were substantiated were committed by women. Female guards/staff were also responsible for a quarter (26%) of all incidents of staff sexual harassment.

BJS analysts found that 84% of all substantiated incidents between 2009 and 2011 perpetrated by female guards/staff involved a sexual relationship that “appeared to be willing,” compared to 37% of those perpetrated by male guards/staff.

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/half-of-sexual-assaults-in-jail-and-prison-committed-by-guards-and-most-by-female-staff-140125?news=852260

[cali]

1. this is just redolent of bullshit. you know what they say about statistics.

[Niceguy1]

2. it is most likely true

technically prisoners cannot consent to sex so any sexual relations with the guard vs prisoner is considered an assault and when caught they sre prosecuted as such

[stevenleser]

3. Good point, but you buy the idea that this many female guards are having sex with inmates?

Such that they overwhelm the amount of assaults by male prisoners against other male prisoners?

I find that very hard to believe.

[Niceguy1]

11. prosecution is key

absent prosecution the assult is alleged..just like any other crime

[Jesus Malverde]

20. Male on male prison rape is more common in the movies than real life.

The most reported rapes are going to involve staff.

Most male on male sex in prison is consensual.

[stevenleser]

37. I'm willing to read any studies on that, do you have stats to support it?

Thanks

[stevenleser]

4. I find it very hard to believe. I need more information before I buy this.

A lot more.

[stevenleser]

5. OK, I see the problem here.

Very simply, the problem is this:

8,763 allegations of sexual attacks were reported

There is a BIG impediment to reporting (i.e. snitching) in prison to the point that any such study that doesn't somehow account for this, by for instance surveying prisoners, is nearly or completely worthless.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. and this:

Nearly half (49%) of the 2011 allegations involved prison guards or staff.

OR staff ....

sounds like there is some staff to staff stuff going on ....

having nothing WhatSoEver to do with The Prisoners.

and of course right of the bat ... Half ... which of course means the Other Half would be men. Derp.

This is just a precursory glance from me and already it "reads funny"

[mythology]

9. It's not just the anti-reporting

but it's considered "unmanly" to admit to being overpowered and sexually attacked by a man. Where as when they can spin it as a woman being unable to keep her hands off of him, it's that they are so attractive.

I also think that there's might be an idea that a female guard might be more vulnerable to such an accusation in terms of being able to bully her.

[bettyellen]

17. this article doesn't break down the total guards by gender- and it was noted in some prisons

notably, Rikers Island- 3/4 of the guards are now women. And the author has spent years trying to bring attention to assault against male prisoners…. which is great, but cooking the stats like that does't help anyone.

Thanks to Straight Story for informing us yet again, what horrible oppressive people us women are by dropping stuff like this in GD "without comment". No comment is needed, when the agenda is so clear.

[MineralMan]

6. Uff da! Yet another "women are the offenders" post.

I do not think the statistics mean what you think they mean at all.

But, it's your OP...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. Nothin Like a good ole Sunday Morning

pot stirring OP ... but, now We have posted in it and won't have to worry about Jury Duty.

I think I will just put this pot on the back burner and let it simmer.

[MineralMan]

10. Still Saturday. There's yet another day in the weekend to go.

Sunday's another day...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. typo, oops ... trying to get out of thread ASAP. can you blame me?

just who is the devil in all this mess, anyway?

[AngryAmish]

12. Prison gangs actively recruit female guards

http://nation.time.com/2013/04/24/sex-with-guards-in-baltimore-prison-scandal/


The indictment says inmates paid their co-conspirators through Green Dot Money Pak prepaid cards, and even purchased luxury items for guards who were working with the gang. For example, officials say White gave corrections officer Jennifer Owens a diamond ring and bought Mercedes Benz, BMW and Acura automobiles for Owens, Katera Stevenson, Chania Brooks and Tiffany Lender — all guards that he allegedly had sexual relationships with. These relationships, the indictment says, were used to influence the women who in turn helped the smuggling operation.

But these five were not the only ones involved, according to the indictment. Eight other prison officers performed duties ranging from smuggling contraband into the prison to tipping off BGF members about law enforcement “shakedowns” to standing lookout while the guards had sex with inmates. All of the 13 corrections officers accused in the indictment are female.

[Eleanors38]

14. Did this study delineate between prisons for men, and those for women?

[Squinch]

15. *sigh* OK, let's pull this apart:

49% of allegations involved guards or staff.

Some of them were substantiated and some were not. So let's be VERY generous and say that 2/3 were substantiated. Probably the number is much smaller, but let's go with it.

So 2/3 of the 49% - or 32% - of all allegations involved guards or staff and were substantiated. Again, 2/3 is probably a very high guesstimate, so the number is probably much lower.

So now half of THEM were committed by women. So in the most generous scenario, 16% were committed by women. Of those, 84% involved willing partners. Which leaves 16% unwilling. So

So 16% of the assaults were committed by women, and 16% of THEM were with unwilling partners. So of all the assaults, 3 percent, (or 16% of 16%) were committed by women on unwilling partners.

3%.

And that is 3% of REPORTED prison rapes. Logically, unreported inmate on inmate rapes are rampant.

Your headline is wildly misleading, and it is ridiculous.

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. Nicely done

[lumberjack_jeff]

18. Link to the actual report below.

In 2011, correctional administrators reported 6,660 allegations of sexual victimization in prisons. Of these, 605 were substantiated based on follow-up investigation. Local jail authorities reported 2,042 allegations, of which 284 were substantiated.
About half (51%) involved allegations of nonconsensual sexual acts or abusive sexual contacts of inmates with other inmates, and half (49%) involved staff sexual misconduct or sexual harassment directed toward inmates. While the overall number of allegations reported by authorities in adult correctional facilities rose from an estimated 6,241 in 2005 to 8,763 in 2011, the number of substantiated incidents did not change significantly from 2005 (885) to 2011 (902).

The OP provided the link to the report, which included the link to the underlying DOJ study. No need to guess 2/3. Apparently 10% is the correct number.

I disagree with your apparent contention that "apparently willing" sexual misconduct between guards and inmates is harmless or appropriate.

The interesting question is if sexual misconduct with a willing inmate is more or less likely to be reported.

[Comrade Grumpy]

21. Sexual misconduct with a willing inmate is less like to be reported, especially by the inmate.

It gets reported by other guards or other prisoners.

[Comrade Grumpy]

30. To be fair, the headline is the one from the Allgov source article.

[enki23]

31. That news site is, frankly, full of shit.

OK... so I started trying to analyze this, but I give up. I'm not sure what there is here to analyze. This stupid site linked by the OP apparently ineptly tried to copy (or put a bullshit spin on?) another news story's analysis, a story which they linked to and clearly took most of their own stuff from. *That* article says that half of "substantiated" cases of sexual *misconduct* were conducted by staff, and that half of the staff misconduct involved female staff. However, nearly all the misconduct involving female staff was consensual. Note that the site they stole this from said nothing about those being "assaults." Consensual acts between adults does not necessarily equal assault, even if it *is* considered misconduct.

Anyway, since...

1. the overwhelming majority of prison inmates are male
2. a large majority of the population is mostly or entirely heterosexual
3. there is some degree of consensual sexual activity between prison inmates and staff
4. any sexual activity between staff and prisoners is considered misconduct even when it it isn't consensual

I don't see why those numbers should be surprising, even if true.

The majority of prison inmates are heterosexual males. It is not surprising that interactions between this population and prison staff will be biased toward relationships with female staff. Those are the staff that most prisoners would want to have sex with, and prisoners are not entirely without volition. Further, almost all that bias comes from consensual heterosexual relationships. No, consensual is not the same as "appropriate" in this case, but it's hardly surprising, and it isn't in the same universe as saying that female guards are as sexually "abusive" as male guards, as a group, though undoubtedly some individuals certainly are.

Maybe more to the point, I have no idea where they're getting the numbers on females in the first place. I hunted through the source document they cited, and see no numbers about female vs. male staff. Maybe I'm just missing it, or maybe they're getting the numbers from some other document. I just don't know.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. They linked to the wrong report.

This is the report with the gender tabs
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4882

And yeah, the selective statistics in the OP link are carefully crafted to give the wrong impression that it's only women preying on men and to downplay the divide between sexual misconduct and nonconsensual sex.

Incarcerated women had a much higher rate of victimization than men (see pg. 11) and
in the data highlights (pg 2) are these facts:

-Among all substantiated incidents between 2009
and 2011, 84% of those perpetrated by female staff,
compared to 37% of those perpetrated by male staff,
involved a sexual relationship that “appeared to be
willing.”
-Physical force and pressure or abuse of power were
identified in 20% of incidents involving male staff,
compared to 1% of incidents involving female staff.

[MattBaggins]

33. The headline is silly

but did you expect anything less?

[seaglass]

38. Y'know I try to avoid responding to this OP's bait but there is something to be said for demolishing

it.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. Female guards get charged with assault for having consensual sex with male prisoners.

That's what's going on. They get caught by other guards or ratted out by other prisoners.

[Squinch]

22. But when we unpack the numbers, not very many of them.

[geek tragedy]

24. moreover,

Physical force and pressure or abuse of power were identified in 20% of incidents involving male staff, compared to 1% of incidents involving female staff.

from the report. And, no, there is no decimal or digit missing. 1%

[Comrade Grumpy]

25. Yeah, not often, but occasionally.

In my work, I run a Google alert for "officer arrested OR officer charged OR officer convicted OR officer sentenced" (as well as related variations) and I see a few of these female guard-male prisoner "sexual assault" cases each year.

[Squinch]

27. And they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But the OP title was worded

to mislead us to the conclusion that female guards are the real predators in jails, and are responsible for most of the sexual assaults that go on there. Which simply isn't even close to being true.

[enki23]

32. That's the thing. They aren't being charged with assault at all. The article's title is bullshit.

.

[geek tragedy]

23. it must be "fear women's sexuality week" in MRA-ville

First Huckabee, then the white supremacist nonsense posted yesterday, now this.

as others have pointed out:

1) reported, not actual
2) substantiated were a very small subset of the reported
3) the actual assaults were a very small subset of the substantiated (though it should go without saying that any kind of sex between inmates and guards/staff is extremely inappropriate and troubling)
4) someone left out this little nugget:

Physical force and pressure or abuse of power were identified in 20% of incidents involving male staff, compared to 1% of incidents involving female staff.

5) it doesn't identify--that I could see--stats whether the incidents were male/male, female/female, male/female, or female/male.

[Squinch]

28. Well, to be fair, we women are very scary.

[geek tragedy]

34. well, you are

to adolescent males

[Squinch]

36. I am seeing a pattern with a lot of media these days.

A need to blame women for the shortcomings of men. And blaming others for your own shortcomings IS a definition of mental immaturity.

[MadrasT]

26. OH LOOK. MORE FLAME BAIT.

[Iggo]

29. Men good. Women bad.

Okay, got it.