Sexual Victimization Allegations Reported by Administrators in Adult Correctional Facilities

"In 2020, correctional administrators reported 36,264 allegations of sexual victimization in prisons, jails, and other adult correctional facilities (figure 1). This included allegations of inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts, inmate-on-inmate abusive sexual contact, inmateon-inmate sexual harassment, staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct, and staff-on-inmate sexual harassment.1 Of all the allegations reported in 2020, 2,351 were substantiated after investigation, the lowest number since 2014, when there were 2,350 substantiated incidents. The number of allegations rose 121% from 2013 to 2016, which was partly attributable to correctional authorities’ continuing response to the 2012 release of the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape. From 2016 to 2020, the number of allegations of sexual victimization remained relatively stable, ranging from 35,206 allegations in 2017 to 38,132 in 2019."