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In the May/June issue of City Limits magazine, Kelly Virella investigates staff sexual abuse involving male guards and female inmates in New York State prisons. In a recent nationwide survey, the Bayview women’s state prison in Manhattan posted the highest inmate-reported rate of staff sexual abuse of any participating institution.
You can watch Kelly discuss her findings here.
You can see some of the source documents used to produce our investigation:
Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Sexual Violence
The New York State Department of Correctional Services reported sexual abuse at its facilities to the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 2004 and 2009. Here is a sample of those reports.
And you can read some background documents on the national effort to reduce prison sexual abuse:
National Prison Rape Elimination Commission’s 2009 Report
The final report of the landmark commission empowered by the Prison Rape Elimination Act to propose guidelines for federal and state prison systems.
DOCS’s Response To NPREC Final Report
In this letter, DOCS Commissioner Brian Fischer explained the agency’s opposition to several proposed federal regulations addressing sexual abuse in prisons.
Prison Rape Elimination Act Cost Impact Analysis
A 2010 report prepared for the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs evaluating the financial burden that proposed new regulations might place on state and federal prison systems.
DOJ’s Initial Regulatory Impact Analysis for the PREA Standards
As the DOJ has weighed implementing new rules to reduce prison sexual abuse, states have complained about the cost and complexity of implementing those rules. This report analyzes the costs and benefits of the proposed guidelines.
National Standards To Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape
The DOJ released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in early 2011. Shaped by cost considerations, its proposed rules differ from the commission’s.