Two new reports from the U.S. Justice Department dissect the known data on sexual abuse in U.S. prisons, jails and other correctional institutions. One study estimates 200,000 reported incidents of sex abuse each year behind bars. Another suggests that only a small fraction of these is reported to authorities, about 7,000 in 2008.
The first report was issued Monday aspart of the Justice Department proposal for rules under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. The second was a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics study out yesterday of reports filed with corrections-facility administrators.