Sexual Violence In Prison Research Articles

Voice of incarcerated male youths in Malawi’s semi-urban prisons: a qualitative study

ObjectiveIncarcerated male youths in Malawi’s detention facilities face multiple threats to their health and well-being. The most common challenges are overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of access to basic...

Toward a History of Sexual Violence behind Bars

Toward a History of Sexual Violence behind Bars

Bodies in Confinement: Negotiating Queer, Gender Nonconforming, and Transwomen’s Gender and Sexuality behind Bars

The criminal punishment system plays a critical role in the production of race, gender, and sexuality in the United States. The regulation of marginalized women’s bodies—transwomen, butches, and lesbians—in confinement reproduces cis-heteronormativity. Echoing the paternalistic claims of protection that have inspired “bathroom bills,” gender-segregated prison facilities have notoriously condemned transwomen prisoners to men’s prisons for the “safety” of women’s prisons, constructing cisgender women as “at risk” of sexual assault and transgender women as “risky”, overlooking the reality of transwomen as the most at risk of experiencing sexual violence in prisons. Prisons use legal and medical constructions of gender that pathologize transgender identity in order to legitimize health concerns; for example, the mutilation of the body in an effort to remove unwanted genitalia as evidence to warrant a diagnosis of gender identity disorder, or later gender dysphoria. This construction of transgender identity as a medical condition that warrants treatment forces prisoners to pathologize their gender identity in order to access adequate gender-affirming care. By exploring the writings of queer and trans prisoners, we can glean how heteronormativity structures gender and sexuality behind bars and discover how trans prisoners work to assemble knowledge, support, and resources toward survival.

Causes and Consequences of Sexual Violence in Male Prisons in Kenya: A Study of Kisumu Maximum Security Prison, Kenya

Sexual violence in prisons is an area that calls for adequate attention so as to achieve positive results in the rehabilitation of offenders. Globally, regionally and locally this phenomenon has not received the much-needed attention as one of the challenges facing correctional institutions. This study investigated causes and consequences of sexual violence in Kisumu Maximum Security Prison. The study applied the Deprivation Model and Differential Association Theory to show how the inability to access and enjoy some privileges might be a cause of sexual violence in male prisons. The target population was prisoners, prison staff of Kisumu Maximum Security Prison, and Kisumu County Probation Officers. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling were applied to obtain a sample size of 186 prison inmates, 18 prison staff and 6 Probation Officers. Questionnaires were used to collect data from prisoners while key informant guide was used on Prison Staff and Probation Officers. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and the out-puts were presented using tables, figures, and graphs. The study established that sexual violence was rampant in Kisumu Maximum Security Prisons with majority of the prisoners having knowledge of this vice and blaming congestion as a key motivator. Also, prison administration was also blamed for perpetuating the commission of sexual violence by failing to address and documenting these reports. Based on the study findings, it was recommended that increased surveillance by increasing staff and use of closed circuit cameras in the halls of residence, improved accommodation to ease congestion, introduction of supervised frequent conjugal visitations by partners, improved provision of basic necessities and lastly keeping the convicts constantly engaged in trainings and recreational activities address the problem of sexual violence in Kisumu Maximum Security Prison. Keywords: Causes, Consequences, Sexual Violence, Male Prisons DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/11-5-08 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

Prison Culture as Rape Supportive: Applying Importation and Deprivation Models to Examine Inmate Beliefs

While research examining sexual violence in prison has increased over the past 15 years, relatively scant attention has been paid to rape supportive beliefs and the factors influencing inmate adherence to these beliefs. Given the demonstrated role from studies outside the prison context that rape supportive beliefs have on sexual violence, important parallels can be drawn from studying the inmate population. Importation and deprivation models have been used to explain how inmates adapt to prison life-whether attitudes and behaviors are imported from their lives outside prison or are developed in prison due to the conditions of incarceration. Using a sample of male and female inmates (n = 875) from a large state prison system in the southern United States, the researchers explored the degree to which inmate rape supportive beliefs (IRSB) were influenced by variables indicative of importation or deprivation models of prison adaption. Findings revealed greater support for importation variables among both male and female inmates. With some variation, measures such as gender, age, ethnicity, and education were significant in explaining IRSB, similar to findings of studies on rape supportive beliefs among noninmate samples. Because these beliefs can manifest in problematic attitudes and behaviors among inmates, such as prison sexual violence and the underreporting of such violence, it is important that correctional administrators understand this relationship and take steps to lessen IRSB. Since IRSB largely correlate with factors unrelated to conditions of confinement, efforts to educate and sensitize inmates to prison sexual violence can replicate best practices based on populations outside of prisons.

EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION ACT (PREA): A “LESSONS LEARNED” APPROACH

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to address sexual violence in prison. While previous has focused on sexual violence occurring in correctional facilities, there has been a dearth of studies that document the expertise, experience, or reflections of program following the cimplementation of PREA- within a correctional system. The current study utilizes a “lessons learned” approach to discuss the impact of the PREA Demonstration Project on a state prison system that includes 19 correctional institutions. Results indicate the benefits of merging the philosophical orientation of key stakeholders, establishing benchmarks, and the need for partnerships with prosecutors. A comparison of the perceptions of correctional administrators, inmates, and front-line correctional officers regarding PREA is included. Also featured are the “lessons learned” from the implementation of PREA into four prison sites, along with the concept of building trust and the impact of lockdowns due to staff shortages.

Sexual violence in prisons

Sexual violence in prisons is a phenomenon to which domestic scientific and professional communities do not address enough attention. The idea that violence in prisons is a part of the deserved punishment results in that today there is practically no domestic research directed to determining the frequency, form, causes and consequences of this phenomenon. Apart from individual and common actions of the security service in Serbian prisons, there is no specific prevention program to deal with this issue. It is in this sense that this paper presents theoretical and empirical bases of the phenomenon of sexual violence in penal institutions. It gives an overview of studies that have attempted to determine the incidence of this phenomenon and identifies methodological problems and risk factors of victimization. Referring to some of the basic theoretical explanations of the etiology of this phenomenon, as well as available prevention options, the paper provides suggestions for improvement of the national criminal executive practice.

University student beliefs about sexual violence in prison: rape myth acceptance, punitiveness, and empathy

Although prison rape has been recognised for years, it began to receive increased attention in the USA following the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). In addition to prevalence and victimisation estimates, several researchers have examined the attitudes of correctional personnel towards prison rape. However, few have surveyed the opinions of those not currently working in the criminal justice system. Drawing from the body of research on rape myths, our goal was to examine prison rape myth acceptance among a university student sample to describe these beliefs, as well as examine attitudinal correlates. The findings indicated that prison rape-supportive beliefs were evident among a minority of the sample and were predicted by general punitiveness and male and female rape myth acceptance. The acceptance of victim-blaming myths identified in this study warrants further investigation. It is possible that educational efforts would be successful in reducing these rape-supportive beliefs.

Homosexuality as Pathogen: A Historically Informed Critique of the Theories of Sexual Violence in Prison as Manifested in the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003

The paper traces early 20th century psychoanalytic theory on homosexuality and violence as it passed from Fishman (1934) to Clemmer (1940) to Sykes (1958) into the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003. Deconstruction of PREA with historiographical methods learned that its core assumptions on homosexuality and violence date back the 19th and early 20th

Anal Torture with Unknown Objects and Electrical Stimuli

Sexual violence in prisons constitutes an act of torture which has been used to a widespread in war situations as in former Yugoslavia and Chechnya. However, especially in Islamic countries sexual violence to men has been neglected because of cultural based stigma of the issue. Sexual torture has serious mental, physical and sexual health consequences. This paper describes the physical long-term effect of anal torture in an adult man in prison. Examination was performed following the Istanbul Protocol guidelines. A prolonged relaxation time of the anus as a sign of sphincter insufficiency could be an evidence of traumatic damage of anal sphincter by such kind of torture.

The Effect of Conjugal Visitation on Sexual Violence in Prison

Using yearly state-level data drawn from a variety of different sources and a pooled cross-sectional time-series research design, we examine whether conjugal visitation attenuates sexual violence in prison. The determination of whether sexual violence in prison is less apt to transpire in states that allow conjugal visitation is theoretically relevant. Feminist theory argues that conjugal visitation has little if any influence on the occurrence of rape and other sexual offenses in prison, notwith- standing the gender of the offender and victim, because such offenses are crimes of power that are employed by the offender as an instrument to dominate and humiliate the victim. On the other hand, sexual gratification theory postulates that conjugal visitation provides inmates with a means of sexual release. Therefore, conjugal visitation should reduce sexual offending in prison. Results support sexual gratifica- tion theory by showing that states permitting conjugal visitation have significantly fewer instances of reported rape and other sexual offenses in their prisons. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

An Exploratory Study of the Characteristics of Men Known to Commit Prisoner-on-Prisoner Sexual Violence

For one state correctional system, 1998 through 2006, 121 perpetrators were compared with 121 nonperpetrators. Sexual abuse victimization as a child, a life sentence, and adult sexual assault convictions predicted men’s unwanted sexual touching of other men. History of juvenile robbery and adult sexual assault convictions, more years in prison, and youth characterized men who threatened, attempted, or achieved sexual penetration with another inmate. Individual predispositions appear to be relevant to understanding prison sexual violence and should be examined along with contextual influences. Findings suggest needed areas of future research and have implications for preventing sexual violence in prisons.

Imprisoning men in violence: Masculinity and sexual abuse: a view from South African prisons

This article explores sexual violence in male prisons in South Africa. It focuses on the social meanings and identities that surround sexual violence, particularly the ideas of manhood that shape both the perpetration of sexual abuses and how it is dealt with – or not. The dominant inmate culture endorses prison rape and long-term relationships of sexual abuse, largely through legitimising violence and through replicating societal notions of gender and sexuality. The Department of Correctional Services and its staff have so far failed to meaningfully engage with the problem of sexual violence in prisons, or to provide adequate support for victims. There are indications that the department may be beginning to address the problem, but past attempts to get the issue of sexual violence recognised, provide cautions as to how this should be done. Specifically, there is a need to ensure that damaging and brutal notions of masculinity are challenged rather than accentuated in the process of addressing the problem.

The Prevalence of Sexual Violence in Prison

The issue of prison violence and misconduct has been the subject of considerable academic attention, yet particularized areas of violent victimization within prisons have gone relatively unnoticed. One such area involves sexual violence in prisons. Scholars have argued that sexual violence contributes to a host of institutional and individual-level problems, yet the primary limitation of this body of literature is that it has been largely confined to methodologically questionable studies of prison rape prevalence. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to critically take stock of what is and what is not currently known about the prevalence of prison sexual violence. In doing so, it highlights the direction that future research should take so that evidence-based policies concerning prison sexual violence may be developed.

Behind the Bars of Masculinity: Male Rape and Homophobia in and about South African Men's Prisons

This article explores the dynamics and layers of discourse surrounding sex, sexual violence and coercion in South Africa's men's prisons. Violence in prison - most of which goes unrecorded - is ritualized and is fundamental in establishing inmate identities and hierarchies. Male rape, perhaps the most severely under-reported, is one of many forms of assault occurring (predominantly) between prisoners. Drawing on interviews with (ex-)prisoners, together with related media coverage, I show how in dominant discourses on prison sex and sexual violence a blurring occurs between ‘homosexuality’ and ‘male rape’. Consequently, inclusive understandings of diverse sexualities are negated and sexual violence in prison is denied. I trace how powerful discourses on gender and sexuality make invisible the violence of male rape, and simultaneously demonize same-sex desire behind bars. Moreover, I consider the embryonic discourses that challenge hegemonic understandings, arguing that they have not yet adequately succeeded in producing more accepting understandings of male sexuality or male victimization.

Model law to address HIV/AIDS in prison

This paper makes the case for, and describes an effort to develop and promote the use of, model law to address HIV/AIDS in prisons. First, it outlines the concept of model law and what model law can bring to advocacy around law reform. Second, it describes why model law is particularly important to safeguard the rights of prisoners and people who use drugs. Third, it relates the methodology involved in developing model law. Three important areas of prison law and regulation related to HIV/AIDS are then described: provisions on the likelihood and duration of incarceration, including periods in pretrial detention; the legal foundation for HIV/AIDS care in prison; and the legal framework for comprehensive harm reduction services in prisons. A legislative framework to address rape and sexual violence in prison is also outlined. The paper sets out broad principles of how prison laws and regulations should be reformed to accord with human rights principles, and provides a number of examples of the specific word...