Sunday, July 29, 2007

Survey's focus: prison sexual assaults

Survey's focus: prison sexual assaults
Shelli DeRobertis, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/29/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

CHINO - At least 200 inmates at the California Institution for Men participated last week in a survey about sexual assault behind bars.

About 80,000 inmates at 148 nationwide prisons and 300 jails are expected to take part in the survey, which is being conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The survey's purpose is to study the incident rates of sexual violence amongst inmates - including between inmates and staff - to help reduce sexual assault in detention facilities. The survey stems from the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. It requires annual surveys be conducted in 10 percent of the nation's prisons each year, according to Allen J. Beck, department director and statistician for the Bureau of Justice.

"The act itself is designed to give transparency to what occurs in prison cells," he said. "And through transparency change can occur."

For the past three years, Beck said the bureau has collected data on allegations and substantiated characteristics of when and where the assaults happened, and what the consequences were.

The 2005 survey results reported 6,241 allegations of sexual violence, up from 5,386 in 2004. Of those numbers, 38 percent of allegations involved staff sexual misconduct, 35 percent nonconsensual inmate-on-inmate sexual acts, 17 percent staff harassment and 10 percent abusive inmate-on-inmate sexual contact.

Beck said this most recent survey is expected to be completed by the third week of August. Along with the findings of the survey, the three highest ranking prisons with the most sexual assault incidents will be identified to Congress, he said.

An October congressional hearing in Washington will review the findings, where information from prison administrators is expected to offer insight into the problem that many prisoners shy away from talking about.

But 200 consenting inmates from each randomly selected prison answered questions for the study.

The survey is completely anonymous, Beck said, and structured to take about 25 minutes on a touch screen computer that also offers voice assistance.

Inmates answered questions pertaining to rape or sodomy, which for purposes of the study were classified as the most serious sexual assault, to lesser forms of sexual abuse not involving penetration.

"Inmates are not usually going to come forward with that kind of allegation," said corrections Lt. Mark Hargrove, CIM spokesman, who has been with the department for 20 years.

He said sexual assault allegations by one inmate about another are not frequent at CIM, but the institution trains all inmates and staff on how to report abuse, a process required by .

He said it also treats all sexual misconduct the same, whether the allegation is against a staff member or another inmate.

Lt. Laurence Neff, who manages the sexual violence training at CIM, said each staff member receives four hours of training on how to recognize, deal with and report prison rape.

He said that by raising awareness on the issue it may help victims report sexual assault.
"Men are not so quick to disclose they've been sexually assaulted," he said.

But they are informed of what happens when an allegation of sexual abuse is made, "up to the point we prosecute the individual and present it to the district attorney," Neff said.

He said that regulations are supposed to create an attitude change on sexual violence by also creating a calmer prison environment.

"It informs the inmate population it's not going to be tolerated, and there's means available to that inmate being assaulted," Neff said.

He said correctional officers and the community may be safer for it in the long run.
"They (inmates) ultimately end up assaulting the staff to remove themselves from the sexual assault," Neff said.

Punishment for assaulting an officer requires an inmate to be removed from their cell.
He also said inmates who suffer sexual assault in prison eventually end up in the community.

"Without us providing them the appropriate emotional and physical remedies, they go out in the communities and victimize our families," Neff said.

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_6490754

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