The Persistent Problem of Sexual Assault in Prison

[ismnotwasm]

A national survey involving hundreds of thousands of inmates of jails, prisons, and detention centers throughout the U.S. has brought researchers to one undeniable conclusion: Sexual assault in prisons is a shockingly widespread problem.

New editions of the National Inmate Survey and the National Survey of Youth in Custody were released this year by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and analyzed by David Kaiser and Lovisa Stannow in an essay, “The Shame of Our Prisons: New Evidence,” for the current issue of The New York Review of Books. The Review may seem a slightly unusual venue for such a topic, but Kaiser and Stannow, who are both affiliated with the non-profit organization Just Detention International, have been covering the surveys' findings for the magazine for the past three years.

“As recently as five years ago, American corrections officials almost uniformly denied that rape in prison was a widespread problem,” write Kaiser and Stannow. “But all this has changed. What we have now that we didn’t then is good data.”

That good data points to a dark reality for thousands of inmates -- especially those in juvenile detention facilities. Sixteen- and 17-year-old inmates are often held in separate sections within adult prisons, but younger inmates are typically kept in different facilities altogether, dedicated to juveniles. The have found that corruption, unprofessionalism, and abuse is more widespread in the juvenile facilities than it is in adult jails and prisons. Specifically, Kaiser and Stannow said, “the new National Survey of Youth in Custody found that minors held in juvenile detention suffered sexual abuse at twice the rate of their peers in adult facilities.”

http://www.justdetention.org/en/jdinews/2013/10_18_13_2.aspx

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[ismnotwasm]

2. Sexual assault in prison is somehow considered part of the "punishment"

Which is why suggesting it for punishment or making jokes about it just makes those who do so things complicit in the culture of prison rape.

A juvenile offender on his way to adult prison is often already "claimed" by prisoners. The prison industry is disgustingly corrupt.

[Laelth]

3. I find that attitude barbaric.

But you're right to note that it exists ... even here, sadly.

Thanks for this thread. Sorry it didn't get more attention.

-Laelth