Improving Correctional Response to Sexual Victimization within Women’s Prisons

• In Event: Just and Effective Correctional Responses to Women Offenders

Abstract

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s most conservative estimates, 149,200 incidents of sexual victimization occur during incarceration annually, with over 55,000 adults experiencing victimization by staff. However, reporting of these events internally (e.g. to prison authorities) remains abysmally low. Although there has been research on barriers, facilitators, and processes associated with reporting sexual victimization in community settings, there has been little systematic analysis focused on reporting within prison. This lack of research may impact prevention efforts and intervention strategies aimed at reducing victimization within prisons. This study focuses on incarcerated women who reported sexual victimization externally (to legal advocates) in Neal v. Michigan Department of Corrections. Using secondary data in the form of legal files, institutional records, and court documents the research questions are: What differentiates those who reported sexual victimization to prison authorities from those who did not? How many cases are investigated by corrections and how many are substantiated? Although 809 women are involved in the litigation, this analysis utilizes a subsample of 184 women who experienced a penetrative sexual assault, comparing and contrasting individual, case, and system-level variables. Outcomes of these analyses of behaviors related to reporting provide information to improve correctional responses to sexual victimization.

Authors

• Sheryl Kubiak, Michigan State University

• Hannah Brenner, Michigan State University College of Law

• Deborah Bybee, Michigan State University

• Rebecca Campbell, Michigan State University

• Gina Fedock, University of Chicago