Justice Gaps in Incarcerated Women's Reports of Staff-Perpetrated Sexual Assault: Racial Disparities in Institutional Responses

Background/Purpose: Within correctional settings, incarcerated women and Black incarcerated adults disproportionately experience staff-on-inmate sexual victimization; however, racial differences amongst incarcerated women’s experiences of staff-perpetrated sexual assault have not been explored. Of additional concern, limited research exists regarding institutional responses to incarcerated women’s reports of staff sexual assault, such as staff’s decisions to investigate and racial differences in investigation outcomes. Community-based research on sexual assault has found justice gaps in victims’ experiences, especially investigation and prosecution outcomes, and these gaps commonly reinforce existing inequalities based on race and gender. Using a structural intersectional framework to investigate justice gaps, this study asked: what are the racial differences in incarcerated women’s experiences of staff sexual misconduct, their reporting decisions, and correctional staff’s responses and investigation decisions?

Methods: With a sample of 180 incarcerated women, this study used archival data, including legal and institutional documents comprising women’s descriptions of staff-perpetrated rape and reporting decisions and prison staff’s internal investigation files. Independent-samples t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square tests for dichotomous variables were conducted to examine racial differences amongst women in their victimization experiences, reporting decisions, and investigation decisions. Next, the data was restricted to only women who reported their victimization experiences (n=100) and Chi-square tests for dichotomous variables were conducted to examine racial differences in the internal investigation decisions and outcomes. Lastly, binary and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess which demographic, victimization, and reporting characteristics were associated with staff’s decision to investigate.

Results: In comparing all women’s experiences, no significant differences were found in women’s demographics, victimization and retaliation experiences, and reporting decisions. No significant differences were found in the method of reporting or to whom women reported. However, a significant difference was found between women in terms of prison staff deciding to investigate their reports; a higher proportion of White women had their reports investigated by prison staff than Black women (63.4% vs. 39.0%; x²=; p=0.02). Also, of the 48 women who had a report investigated, a higher proportion of Black women received an institutional finding of unsubstantiated than White women (60.9% vs. 30.8%; x²=; p=0.04).  Across multivariate regression models, race was the only statistically significant variable; being a Black woman was negatively statistically significantly associated with a report being investigated (AOR 0.39; 95% CIs: 0.16-0.92).

Implications: Black women represented over half of the women who experienced rape by staff, had no statistical differences in victimization characteristics, and had similar rates of reporting as White women, yet significant differences were found between women in terms of the prison staff’s responses to their reports. Thus, while justice gaps existed for both groups of women, these gaps in institutional responses were exacerbated for Black women. Because of these stark differences in institutional responses, a structural intersectional framework is needed for social workers to highlight and address the institutional bias embedded in correctional processes, especially in regards to staff sexual misconduct. Centering incarcerated Black women’s experiences is pivotal for guiding efforts to transform correctional settings and build safety for incarcerated women.