Prison Rape Reform: Perspectives from Women with Life Sentences on the Impact of a Class Action Lawsuit

Abstract

Sexual abuse by correctional staff against prisoners violates multiple international human rights standards yet, despite federal policy efforts, remains a concern in the USA. Prisoners who are victims of custodial sexual abuse have used legal remedies, such as class action lawsuits, to acknowledge their individual experiences of victimization and to gain effective remedies, as outlined in human rights law, such as injunctive relief (e.g., institutional changes). This study explores women’s perceptions of outcomes from a class action lawsuit regarding sexual abuse during imprisonment by correctional officers. This lawsuit spanned 15 years and included over 800 women. The incarcerated women serving life sentences who participated in this class action lawsuit were well positioned to describe the kinds of changes that did and did not occur in the prison as a result of the lawsuit. Therefore, incarcerated women serving life sentences were asked to participate in semi-structured interviews to elicit individual- and system-level outcomes from their involvement in the class action lawsuit. In terms of individual-level outcomes, women described two key themes of financial outcomes and meaningful participation in the lawsuit as a change effort. For prison-level changes, two themes emerged around the role of safety mechanisms in the prison and the hostile environment perpetuated by correctional officers as a result of the lawsuit. These findings offer descriptive information regarding how women in prison experience legal remedies for sexual victimization, in particular a form of “third victimization.” Likewise, they are informative for future social work policy and practice efforts to address this often neglected, but concerning, human rights violation within prisons.