[RaisingTheBar] BJS Report on Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails

[Melissa Rothstein]

Hello Coalition members,

 

Today, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released its report,
Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates 2008-2009.
Some highlights include:

 

*	The BJS estimates that 88,500 adults held in prisons and jails
nationwide at the time of the survey had been sexually victimized at
their current facility in the prior year alone.  (Inmates below the age
of 18 were excluded from the survey.)

 

*	4.4% of prison inmates and 3.1% of jail inmates reported
experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by other
inmates and/or staff at their current facility in the preceding 12
months of incarceration.

 

*	Staff sexual misconduct was more prevalent in men's facilities
than in women's facilities. In both men's and women's facilities, staff
perpetrators were predominantly of the opposite sex from the victim.

 

*	Female inmates were more than twice as likely to report
inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse as male inmates. 

 

*	Inmates who had been previously abused and/or reported a sexual
orientation other than heterosexual were the most targeted for abuse. 

 

*	As mandated by PREA, the report ranked facilities with the
highest and lowest rates of sexual abuse. Key findings include:  

	*	The Fluvanna Correctional Center, a women's prison in
Virginia, was the only facility to rank among the highest rates of both
inmate-on-inmate abuse and staff sexual misconduct. 
	*	Three out of the five male prisons with the highest
rates of inmate-on-inmate abuse are run by the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.
	*	The four jails with the worst rates of inmate-on-inmate
abuse were Orleans Parish (LA), Madison County (AL), Miami-Dade (FL),
and Houston County (AL).  
	*	Facilities run by the New York State Department of
Correctional Services had the highest rates of staff sexual abuse for
both men's and women's prisons.
	*	Caroline County Jail in Maryland, Eastern Shore Regional
Jail in Virginia, and Clallam County Correctional Facility in Washington
topped the list for high rates of staff sexual misconduct in jails.  

 

The full report can be found here: 
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2202  

 

I have attached to this email JDI's two press releases linked to this
report, one from yesterday and one from today. Feel free to contact me
with any questions, or if you would like assistance with outreach or are
interested in working with JDI on local or national media pieces about
the report.  

 

Thanks, Melissa

 

 

Melissa Rothstein

Senior Program Director

Just Detention International 

1025 Vermont Ave. NW, 3rd Floor

Washington, DC 20005

tel.: 202-580-6971

fax: 202-638-6056

www.justdetention.org <http://www.justdetention.org> 

www.twitter.com/JustDetention <http://www.twitter.com/JustDetention> 
http://www.facebook.com/JDIonFB <http://www.facebook.com/JDIonFB> 

  

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/raisingthebar/attachments/20100826/c5e789bf/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 3885 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/raisingthebar/attachments/20100826/c5e789bf/attachment-0001.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: JDI Press Release 08-25-10.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 41984 bytes
Desc: JDI Press Release 08-25-10.doc
URL: <http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/raisingthebar/attachments/20100826/c5e789bf/attachment-0002.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: JDI press release 08-26-10 final final.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 44032 bytes
Desc: JDI press release 08-26-10 final final.doc
URL: <http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/raisingthebar/attachments/20100826/c5e789bf/attachment-0003.doc>