Female inmates report higher sex assault rate in New Orleans jail than in other facilities

4-11-2012 Louisiana:

Female inmates at the Orleans Parish jail reported a higher rate of sexual victimization than inmates at other jail facilities surveyed as part of a nationwide survey of correctional facilities, according to a report released this week. The data collected by the federal Review Panel on Prison Rape showed that about 3 percent of jail inmates reported being sexually victimized within the past year.
View full sizeEliot Kamenitz, The Times-PicayuneInmates at the Orleans Parish jail’s now-bulldozed South White Street facility reported a 7.5 percent rate of sexual victimization. The portion of the Orleans Parish Prison complex at South White and Perdido streets was photographed in October 2007.

Inmates at the Orleans Parish jail’s now-bulldozed South White Street facility reported a 7.5 percent rate of sexual victimization, according to a computerized survey.

The final report was released Monday by the federal Office of Justice Programs, part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Allen Beck, the researcher who oversaw the data collection, told the panel last fall that 138 women took the survey and 12 reported either inmate-on-inmate assault or staff misconduct. The surveys were conducted between October 2008 and December 2009.

At the panel, Orleans Parish jail staffers complained that only the women’s facility was surveyed, noting that researchers found that women more readily report sexual assault within a correctional setting. Jail staff also said they had no complaints of sexual assault from the South White facility in either 2008 or 2009.

Beck told the panel that his methodology factored in the disparity in male and female reporting patterns.

The panel also included in the report individual stories from former Orleans Parish male inmates about being sexually assaulted at the jail facilities. The stories of some inmates are highlighted in the report, including an inmate from Mississippi who told of being both anally raped and forced to perform oral sex. ..For the rest of this story: by CONUS TOC SOURCE