Prison rape is an uncomfortable subject rarely covered in newspapers, a laugh line on late-night television. But the reality is that rape in our prisons is a national scandal.
Prison rape is an uncomfortable subject rarely covered in newspapers, a laugh line on late-night television. But the reality is that rape in our prisons is a national scandal. A study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2007 found that more than 60,000 adult inmates and — even worse — 1 in 8 juveniles in custody had been sexually assaulted in the previous year.
Nearly a year ago, the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission issued a strong report on the scope of the problem and what must be done to address it. But for its proposed reforms to be implemented, we must overcome the inertia and resistance to change within our prison system. Efforts to set standards for prison officials and establish the means to hold them accountable for ending prison rape remain bottled up in the Justice Department bureaucracy.