The impact of institutional factors on officially reported sexual assaults in prisons

Not only has research on prison sexual assault been rather scarce the past four decades, but few of these studies have ascertained the number of officially reported inmate-on-inmate sexual assaults. In addiition, no study exists which has rigorously examined which, if any, institutional factors impact the number of officially reported inmate-on-inmate sexual assaults in prisons. Using data from a national sample of 226 prison wardens, this study examines the impact of institutional factors on officially reported sexual assaults. The most salient variables in the study were current number of inmates and wardens’ perceptions of inmate fear of sexual assault. Wardens overseeing institutions with higher numbers of inmates were more likely to report that inmates had been sexually assaulted and those who ran minimum-security prisons were less likely to report sexual assaults within their facilities.