STOP PRISONER RAPE - National Center on Domestic and Sexual ...

offenders who are inexperienced in the ways of prison life; youth held in juvenile and adultfacilities; gay and transgender detainees, or those who are perceived to be gay or gender variant;and, finally, those held in immigration detention centers.SPR calls on the U.S. government to acknowledge that certain inmate groups are at extreme riskof being assaulted while in custody and to improve the ways in which the safety of these inmatesis protected. Simple measures that would help prevent vast numbers of sexual assaults must beestablished, such as improved surveillance of detention facilities and the strict separation of juvenilesfrom adults.In the aftermath of a sexual assault in detention, a survivor is frequently faced with the threat ofcontinued abuse and further systemic victimization by the prison or jail administration itself.In addition to the dearth of confidential mental health services available to survivors of sexualviolence behind bars, a cloud of impunity hangs over prisons and jails nationwide, in breachof both the letter and spirit of the CAT. Adding insult to injury, the vast majority of victims ofsexual violence in detention are faced with insurmountable barriers to seeking redress throughcivil rights litigation.SPR calls on the U.S. government to ensure that inmates have access to prompt and fully confidentialmental health counseling and medical care in the aftermath of sexual abuse. The U.S. should alsoreconsider its system of judicial remedies available to inmates who have been subjected to sexual abuse.Specifically, state and local prosecutors must investigate and prosecute all substantiated instances ofcustodial sexual misconduct, sexual assault, or rape in custody. In addition, the U.S. Congress mustrepeal, or at the very least amend, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA).The plight of survivors of sexual violence in U.S. facilities is further aggravated by the fact thatthe U.S. government refuses to recognize Article 22 of the CAT, thereby denying victims ofabuse in detention the opportunity to communicate directly with the CAT Committee oncethey have exhausted available avenues of relief within the U.S. legal system.SPR calls on the U.S. government to permit Article 22 communications with the Committee AgainstTorture.2IN THE SHADOWS: Sexual Violence in U.S. Detention Facilities