Sexual Abuse In Prison Essay

The Unrecorded Punishment on Prisoners

Abuse of any kind, physical, sexual, mental, is known and condoned by nearly every American in the nation. If abuse has taken place through any form, the majority of the time the case is publicized by the media, and the story is mass circulated. But what about the minority of the cases that take place in a less media-monitored setting, such as prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers? A high number of civilians do not realize how frequent abuse takes place in these environments, and the severity of the cases are usually underestimated. Reality is, nearly every form of abuse is bestowed upon inmates by their “guards” as they serve their sentence, and the abuse can cause detrimental and life-threatening

Just how popular is sexual abuse in state prisons? A Justice Department study showed that 1 in every 10 prisoners face sexual abuse from their guards and officers, and the victimization rate has more than doubled in the past 8 years. Sexual abuse can occur as forced sexual intercourse, oral sexual actions, inappropriate touching, etc. Correctional officers will bribe, lure, or force inmates into granting them sexual favors, and when taken to the prison staff, inmates are ignored when pleading for protection against rape. It is an easy assumption to figure that female inmates are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse, and they are, three times more likely to be precise. One case discovered in Newport Arkansas examined former prison chaplain Kenneth Dewitt, who was charged with 50 counts of sexual assault involving three female inmates over the course of 21 months in 2013 and 2014. Once again, Dewitt told them that no one would believe them if they ever reported the abuse, and he was right. Dewitt had set up a scheduled system for the three women, and would engage sexual intercourse very frequently, leaving the victims seriously considering suicide as the only way out of their