Violence in California Correctional Facilities: An Empirical Examination of Sexual Assault

Policy Issues and Key Questions. Inmate sexual assault is a public health and human rights issue as well as an administrative management problem in correctional facilities throughout the country. This research was designed to contribute to a main goal of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act of 2005—to reduce sexual assault, including rape, in detention facilities in the U.S. This report draws on original self-report and institutional data to offer a systematic empirical assessment of inmateon-inmate sexual assault in California correctional facilities. For comparative purposes, we also examine the parameters of non-sexual assault in order to discern what is—and is not— distinct about the correlates of sexual assault. Specifically, this report addresses the following general questions: 1) What proportion of inmates in California prisons housing adult males has been sexually assaulted in a California correctional facility? 2) What are the demographic characteristics of victims? and 3) What are the contextual and relational characteristics of the sexual assault/misconduct incidents reported by inmates in California prisons housing adult males? By addressing these questions, this study sheds insight into the contours of sexual assault in order to contribute to ongoing efforts to create viable interventions designed to prevent and respond to sexual assault in ways that are humane, effective, and constitutional.