More sexual assaults reported in juvenile prisons

The New York Times (NYT) in a Monday article reports that sexual violence in state-run juvenile prisons occurs "10 times more frequently than at adult prisons," according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) study of sexual assaults in state-run prisons. NYT writes that the report "defined sexual contact between corrections officials and inmates at adult facilities, including consensual but illegal acts, as sexual violence. By that standard, the study found that most of the reports of sexual violence in adult facilities involved guards and other officials having sexual contact with inmates." It is not known the extent of sexual assualts between inmates as these most often go unreported.

Alexander Busansky, of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons says of the study, "It is a first step not only to find out how extensive the problem of sexual violence is, but it is also an important first step in looking at broader issues of safety, abuse and violence in our jails and prisons."

Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2004
(available in PDF, 322K, from BJS)

Statement Of Alex Busansky, Executive Director, Commission On Safety And Abuse In America's Prisons In Response To BJS Prison Rape Statistics
(available in PDF, 92K, from the Commission On Safety And Abuse In America's Prisons)