NCJ Number
226279
Journal
The Prison Journal Volume: 89 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 65-78
Date Published
March 2009
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of U.S. State prison wardens toward prison rape since the enactment of the Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2003, which mandates a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assaults in prisons and the collection of national data on prison rape and sexual assault.
Abstract
Of the 60 wardens who responded to the survey (out of 500 invited to participate), the majority reported that male prison rape and sexual assault was a low base-rate occurrence and that their prison’s current sexual assault rate was either 0 percent or below 1 percent. The wardens could document incidents of inmate sexual assault where force or covert coercion was used; however, there was little documentation of situations in which inmate sexual activity occurred without the use of physical force or coercion. Wardens viewed institutional policies and procedures as well as staff training as somewhat effective in preventing prison rape and sexual assault. Most important, they believe that increased inmate supervision by staff can be effective in preventing prison rape. The wardens indicated they have policies in place designed to prevent prison rape and that about half of these policies are based on PREA or PREA-related policies. The wardens also indicated that their prisons have structured consequences for committing prison sexual violence, such as criminal investigation and prosecution, disciplinary sanctions, segregation, and an increase in the perpetrator’s security level. The survey’s findings suggest that PREA’s common standards for addressing prison rape and sexual assault are effective. A random sample of 500 wardens working in all-male U.S. State prisons was selected from the 2004 directory of the American Correctional Association. The questionnaire was developed from themes, questions, and scales used in two previously published studies (Eigenberg, 2000 and Hensley et al., 2002). 2 tables and 23 references