New Report By BOJ: Sexual Victimization in Prisons

BJS
Between October 2008 and
December 2009, BJS completed
the second National
Inmate Survey (NIS-2) in 167 state
and federal prisons, 286 jails, and 10
special confinement facilities operated
by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Military,
and correctional authorities in Indian
country. The survey, conducted by
RTI International (Research Triangle
Park, NC), was administered to 81,566
inmates ages 18 or older, including
32,029 inmates in state and federal
prisons, 48,066 in jails, 957 in ICE
facilities, 399 in military facilities, and
115 in Indian country jails.
The NIS-2 is part of the National
Prison Rape Statistics Program, which
collects administrative records of reported
sexual violence, and allegations
of sexual victimization directly from
victims, through surveys of adult inmates
in prisons and jails and surveys
of youth held in juvenile correctional
facilities. Administrative records have
been collected annually since 2004.
Reports by victims of sexual victimization
have been collected since 2007.
The NIS-2 survey consisted of an
audio computer-assisted self-interview....
Prevalence of sexual victimization
ƒƒ An estimated 4.4% of prison inmates and 3.1% of jail
inmates reported experiencing one or more incidents
of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff
in the past 12 months or since admission to the facility,
if less than 12 months. Nationwide, these percentages
suggest that approximately 88,500 adults held in prisons
and jails at the time of the survey had been sexually
victimized.
ƒƒ About 2.1% of prison inmates and 1.5% of jail inmates
reported an incident involving another inmate. An
estimated 1.0% of prison inmates and 0.8% of jail inmates
said they had nonconsensual sex with another inmate
(the most serious type of acts), including unwilling
manual stimulation and oral, anal, or vaginal penetration.
ƒƒ About 2.8% of prison inmates and 2.0% of jail inmates
reported having had sex or sexual contact with staff. At
least half of the inmates who experienced staff sexual
misconduct (1.8% in prison and 1.1% in jail) said that they
willingly had sex or sexual contact with staff.