In a new 50-state investigation, the Associated Press has found that the number of reports of sexual violence against correctional staff has exploded nationwide in recent years. “Many complaints follow a similar pattern: Accusers are retaliated against, while those accused face little or no punishment,” the AP reports. Many of the victims are women, who are part of the fastest growing population behind bars, mostly for nonviolent crimes that often are drug-related. “In all 50 states, the AP found cases where staff allegedly used inmate work assignments to lure women to isolated spots, out of view of security cameras. The prisoners said they were attacked while doing jobs like kitchen or laundry duty inside correctional facilities or in work-release programs that placed them at private businesses like national fast-food restaurants and hotel chains.”
As part of a two-year investigation that has exposed everything from multinational companies benefiting from prison labor to incarcerated workers’ lack of rights and protections, AP reporters spoke to more than 100 current and former prisoners nationwide, including women who said they were sexually abused by correctional staff. “The only thing you’re thinking about when you’re coming into intake is, ‘How am I going to stay safe?’” said Johanna Mills of Just Detention International, a nonprofit organization working to end sexual violence behind bars. When she was incarcerated, she said her boss smashed her in the head and raped her after bringing her to an empty gym one night to do electrical work. “It never occurred to me to watch my back from the supervisor,” she said. The AP found that a backlog of thousands of cases has impeded the Bureau of Prison’s ability to hold employees accountable, government investigators said.
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