Dept. of Justice Report: Sexual Abuse by Staff in U.S. Prisons Has Doubled

Prison Fellowship Calls for Zero Tolerance of Prison Rape - “It is a scandal that people in the custody of our government should be sexually assaulted by those in authority over them,” says Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.

LANSDOWNE, Va., Sept. 11, 2009—A new report by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice has found that sexual abuse of inmates by staff in federal prisons has doubled in the last eight years, far outpacing the increase in prisoners or staff.  The Department of Justice's Efforts to Prevent Staff Sexual Abuse of Federal Inmates report was issued yesterday.  It found that 257 cases were referred for prosecution, but only 102 were actually prosecuted, resulting in 83 convictions of prison employees.  These sexual assaults undoubtedly traumatized the prisoners, but in many cases they did not receive the medical and psychological help required by law.

The report also found that in order to engage in and conceal their sexual abuse of prisoners, corrections personnel:

• Subverted security procedures and compromised the officers who provided contraband to prisoners;
• Accepted bribes;
• Lied to federal investigators;
• Committed other serious crimes as a result of their sexual involvement with federal prisoners.

"Society cannot look the other way as officials who carry a badge and represent the authority of the state assault the men and women under their supervision," said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship and former attorney general of Virginia.  "There should be a zero tolerance policy for this egregious abuse of power."

"No crime - no matter how heinous - has a sentence that includes rape," said Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship, the world's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.  "As a society, we have the responsibility to protect those we send to prison from abuses such as rape and sexual assault."

Nolan served on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, which recently issued a report on the incidence of prison rape and recommended standards to hold corrections officials accountable for combating it.  The Commission was established by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was passed unanimously by Congress.  Earley credits passage of the PREA to seven years of hard work by a broad coalition of religious and civil rights groups, in which Prison Fellowship played a key role.

"We hope that the Department of Justice will implement the recommendations of the Inspector General and of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission as soon as possible.  It is a scandal that people in the custody of our government should be sexually assaulted by those in authority over them," Earley concluded.

MEDIA NOTE: To schedule an interview with Mark Earley or Pat Nolan, contact Michelle Farmer at (770) 813-0000 or (770) 757-4900 cell.

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