Chapter 5

Sexual Abuse

Chapter Overview

Sexual violence and abuse are pervasive in U.S. prisons and jails. This chapter explores responses by federal courts, Congress, and state legislatures. In addition to the relevant federal case law, the chapter presents the Prison Rape Elimination Act’s implementing regulations and includes materials on PREA audits and the criminalization of sexual contact between correctional officers and people in custody.

Featured Opinions

Crawford v. Cuomo, 796 F.3d 252 (2d Cir. 2015)
Graham v. Sheriff of Logan County, 741 F.3d 1118 (10th Cir. 2013)
Jacoby v. PREA Coordinator, No. 5:17-cv-00053-MHH-TMP, 2017 WL 2962858 (N.D. Ala. Apr. 4, 2017), Report and recommendation adopted, 2017 WL 2957825 (N.D. Ala. Jul. 11, 2017)
Johnson v. Phelan, 69 F.3d 144 (7th Cir. 1995)
Jordan v. Gardner, 986 F.2d 1521 (9th Cir. 1993) (en banc)
Timm v. Gunter, 917 F.2d 1093 (8th Cir. 1990)

Featured, Cited, and Supplemental Litigation Documents

DePriest ex rel. C.B. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, 3:10-cv-00663-CWR-FKB (S.D. Miss.)
- Litigation summary and documents (see also this related case)
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, [CRIPA] Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility (Mar. 20, 2012)

Statutes, Treaties, and Regulations

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), 34 U.S.C. §§ 30301 et seq.
- Collection of the penalties imposed so far under PREA
Department of Justice PREA Rule, 28 C.F.R. Part 115
Department of Homeland Security PREA Rule, 6 C.F.R. Part 115
Sexual Abuse of a Minor, a Ward, or an Individual in Federal Custody, 18 U.S.C. § 2243
Fla. Stat. 944.35
Okla. Stat. Tit. 21 § 1111

Excerpted Sources & Supplemental Documents

Gabriel Arkles, Prison Rape Elimination Act Litigation and the Perpetuation of Sexual Harm 17 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Pol’y 801 (2014)
Brenda V. Smith, Promise Amid Peril: PREA’s Efforts to Regulate an End to Prison Rape 57 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1599 (2020)
PREA investigation report
PREA audit reports
- Bolivar County (Jul. 21, 2019)
- Folsom State Prison (May 6, 2019)
National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Report (Jun. 2009)

Lived Experiences

Data & Figures

Additional Reading

General Information

Amnesty International, “Not Part of My Sentence”: Violations of the Human Rights of Women in Custody (1999)
Tanyika Brime, We Can Do Better: The State of Custodial Misconduct by Correctional Staff in New York, 15 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 303 (2009)
Anthea Dinos, Custodial Sexual Abuse: Enforcing Long-Awaited Policies Designed to Protect Female Prisoners, 45 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 281 (2001)
Stephen Donaldson, A Million Jockers, Punks, and Queens, Lecture at Columbia University (Feb. 4, 1992), in Prison Masculinities (Don Sabo et al. eds., 2001)
Human Rights Watch, All Too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons (1996)
Amy Kapczynski, Same-Sex Privacy and the Limits of Antidiscrimination Law, 112 Yale L.J. 1257 (2003)
Melissa A. Kowalski et al., An Analysis of Statutes Criminalizing Correctional Officer Sexual Misconduct with Inmates, 100 Prison J. 126 (2019)
Teresa A. Miller, Keeping the Government’s Hands Off Our Bodies: Mapping a Feminist Legal Theory Approach to Privacy in Cross-Gender Prison Searches, 4 Buff. Crim. L. Rev. 861 (2001)
Teresa A. Miller, Sex & Surveillance: Gender, Privacy & the Sexualization of Power in Prison, 10 Geo. Mason U. Civ. Rts. L.J. 291 (2000)
Heather M. Moss, Correctional Facilities, 9 Geo. J. Gender & L. 609 (2008) (no free online version available; via Hein Online here)
Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Deterring Staff Abuse of Federal Inmates (Apr. 2005)
PREA Resource Center
Brenda V. Smith, Sexual Abuse of Women in United States Prisons: A Modern Corollary of Slavery, 33 Fordham Urb. L.J. 571 (2006)
Brenda V. Smith, American University, Washington College of Law, End Silence: The Project on Addressing Prison Rape
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release, Ninth and Tenth FCI Dublin Correctional Officers Charged with Sexual Abuse of Female Inmates (Jun. 26, 2025)

Statistics on Victimization & PREA Implementation

Bureau of Justice Statistics, Allen Beck et al., Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails as Reported by Inmates, 2011-2012 (May 2013)
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Allen Beck et al., Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2012 (June 2013)
Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), in 2022 U.S. Dep’t of Just., Criminal Victimization, 2022 (Sept. 2023)
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities 2012-15 (Jul. 2018)
Centers for Disease Control, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2015 Data Brief–Updated Release (Nov. 2018)
Bureau of Justice Assistance, Prison Rape Elimination Act [grant recipients]

Trans and Non-Binary Prisoners

Jessica A. Clarke, They, Them, and Theirs, 132 Harv. L. Rev. 894 (2019)
The Conversation, British Prisons Must Now Recognize Gender Fluid and Non-Binary Inmates (Nov. 16, 2016)