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Circa 1975, radical feminists theorized rape as an issue of gender, not just crime, by centering the stories of acquaintance and family rape that had been neglected by a law-and-order focus on stranger rape. For 2075, we need once more to expand the cultural repertoire of rape stories in order to better understand the larger structures that incubate rape, this time centering stories of state violence that politicize it as an issue of racial capitalism. These stories include such uncounted events of sexual violence as prison rape, strip searches at border control, and forced sterilization in ICE detention. Attending to these stories exercises an art historical way of knowing that disrupts the state monopoly on rape knowledge, whether in its legal prerogative to define what rape is or in its public health prerogative to count where and to whom rape happens. This essay begins by recovering the aesthetic instincts of 1970s radical feminist work, then complicates its racial and transnational dimensions to articulate an abolitionist movement against rape grounded in cultural transformation. Acting as examples and as theories in their own right, threaded through the essay are readings of three art-historical episodes devoted to the Rape of the Sabines : Nicolas Poussin in the colonial 1600s, Pablo Picasso and the decolonial moment of the 1960s, and Andres Serrano and the neocolonialist moment of the neoliberal 1990s. This colonial history brings out the structural function of rape to conscript labor. And it foregrounds an anti-rape strategy adapted from labor's toolkit: the strike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite repeated reports of sexual victimization by transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people who are incarcerated, there remains little literature on the source of this sexual assault and the factors that heightened likelihood of experiencing assault while incarcerated. The current research (n = 439) is the first known study aimed at understanding whether individual and state-level factors influence sexual assault while incarcerated. Utilizing data from the 2015 United States Transgender Survey and Malkin and DeJong’s (2018) PREA compliance study, analyses were conducted to understand whether individual differences and the number of transgender-specific PREA policies were associated with the likelihood of experiencing sexual assault while incarcerated. Whether perpetrated by facility staff or another inmate, People of Color were significantly more likely to experience sexual assault compared to their White counterparts. A preliminary chi-square analysis also found significant differences in the prevalence of sexual assault based on how many transgender-specific PREA policies a state had implemented with states with more policies reporting a less sexual assault. Findings support the need to further understand the experiences and vulnerability of TGD people who are incarcerated in the United States, and potential policies and legislation that can combat sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to prevent sexual victimization in the correctional system, incarcerated persons and corrections staff must hold favorable views of this law, and behave in manners conducive toward its mission. In regards to behavior, both populations must report allegations of sexual misconduct, and be cautious in their interactions with one another. Currently, no study has researched whether these perceptual and behavioral expectations are being followed, or the factors influencing them. Mixed-methodological questionnaire data gathered from incarcerated persons (n = 490) and corrections staff (n = 222) who were in three state prisons located in the southeastern United States revealed how our custodial sample, compared to staff, were less likely to view PREA favorably, or to adopt behaviors supportive of this policy. Statistically significant correlates of self-reported behaviors included age, sex, and race. Discussion of results centers around ways of creating institutional cultures embracing of PREA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The normalization of deviance in the form of prison rape finds common themes in media, rape myths, and common discourse. However, these portrayals fail to include real world policies and the perspectives of incarcerated populations. As such, the normalization of deviance is assessed in the context of the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). A thematic analysis was conducted using qualitative survey responses from 407 males incarcerated in three medium-level security state prisons in the Southern United States. Surprisingly, respondents rejected stereotypical notions of sexuality (institutional deviancy) and snitching (cultural deviancy) surrounding prison rape. Rather, respondents favored standardized safety procedures and institutional responses designed to reduced risk, while also endorsing views that traditional snitching codes were not applicable to prison rape. This study provides implications for researchers and practitioners, particularly in the context of the implementation of PREA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to briefly focus on a reform related to prison called PREA which stands for Prison Rape Elimination Act, 2003. Prison Rape Elimination Act is a US federal law that was implemented in 2003 to eradicate rape in prisons. PREA created principles for recognizing, preventing, and responding to sexual abuse and harassment in correctional settings such as prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and immigration detention centers. The law also requires data collecting and reporting on incidences of sexual abuse within these facilities, as well as staff training to avoid such incidents. However, PREA 2003 could not meet all the criteria included in its principles to eliminate rape culture in the prison. From this concern, the main aim of this paper is to focus on a reform related to prisons called Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) 2003, the reasons why this act was put into place, the current status of prison rape, the positive, and negative impact of PREA 2003, probable strategies that can be helpful for the appropriate implementation of PREA 2003. To accomplish this endeavor, this research followed systematic literature review methods due to the availability of scholarly work in this field. Although PREA 2003 has some positive aspects, the overall analysis of this study has uncovered that PREA 2003 was not implemented accurately due to some of the practical problems related to it. There are still some improvements that need to be accomplished for the appropriate implementation of PREA 2003 for the prisoners. Some suggested ways were discussed in this study to improve the implementation of PREA 2003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the inception of the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), its reception has been notably ambivalent among practitioners and scholars. While this policy was promoted as a means of enhancing safety in carceral facilities, some view it as a superfluous inconvenience. Unfortunately, the intended beneficiaries of PREA have been largely excluded from this discourse. The current study addresses this gaping oversight by examining perceptual predictors of safety among those housed across four prisons in a southeastern state. Using survey data collected from more than 1500 incarcerated men, this study examines the relationship between self-reported safety indicators and a variety of policy compliance proxies, facility resource measures, interpersonal relationships between staff and inmates, and other relevant themes. The results of this study reveal that some measures of PREA compliance, specifically investigation efficiency and knowledge of the reporting process, are positively related to the respondent's sense of safety from inmate violence as well as safety from staff violence. Prison resources, staff interactions, exposure to violence, and other notable predictors are also significantly related to safety perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of the quality of PREA implementation in conjunction with resource sufficiency and constructive interactions with staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was implemented to prevent sexual assault within correctional facilities. To communicate PREA principles to inmates, written materials including handbooks, policies, and brochures are utilized. This research evaluates the readability of PREA messaging, employing three established metrics: Flesh Reading Ease Score, Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. Findings reveal significant deviation from recommended reading targets for both the general (7th–8th grade) and inmate (5th–6th grade) populations. Prison Rape Elimination Act policies averaged a 16th-grade level, raising concerns regarding the efficacy of PREA implementation and compliance in light of potential comprehension challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prison sexual violence in the USA was first addressed in 2003 with the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The act was intended to protect all people who are incarcerated from sexual violence, but the reality is that transgender people in the carceral system are sexually assaulted at rates much higher than their cisgender counterparts. Drawing from theories of institutionalism, critical victimology, and feminist and queer criminology, we see that PREA policy legitimates unequal risk of victimization in the criminal justice system by institutionalizing and naturalizing cis-normativity. After establishing a more expansive definition of violence, I present PREA housing risk screenings as an illustration of how PREA policies constitute violence. No one, including transgender people, can be protected from violence in institutions that are themselves a form of violence. Activists and scholars should center prison abolition in their efforts to protect transgender people in the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male rape literature is limited in the UK, with little public attention and limited research about prison officers' perceptions. The aim of the current study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of prison officers in England and Wales. Two groups of participants were recruited: Group 1 included 24 retired prison officers; group 2 included 17 participants from the general population. A mixed method design was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Findings showed that prison officers did not accept societal myths on male rape, although some had negative attitudes towards male rape occurring in prison. Participants from the general population displayed similar results, demonstrating how being a prison officer does not affect beliefs and attitudes of male rape any more than the public. Support strategies for prisoners would further reduce the stigma of raped prisoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the validation of Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) risk screening tools for sexual victimization and abusiveness in correctional settings. Topics include the development and implementation of these tools, the need for such tools in response to PREA mandates, and the factors assessed by the tools for victimization and abusiveness risk, as well as their predictive validity.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to eliminate from corrections systems all acts of sexual violence. PREA's success will be determined by whether corrections staff and incarcerated persons support this law, understand its legal elements, and are enforcing it according to it's original intentions. To date, few studies have examined whether members of both populations do indeed support PREA, and whether they are enforcing it correctly. To explore these issues, questionnaire data were collected from corrections staff (N = 222) and incarcerated persons (N = 490) housed in three medium-level security prisons located in the southeastern United States. While both groups expressed personal support for PREA, neither perceived the other as supportive of this law. Moreover, while an overwhelming majority of each sample responded correctly to questions about PREA, there were some incorrect answers too, specifically with regard to mandatory reporting procedures. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For American women and nonbinary people held in women’s prisons, sexual violence by state actors is, and has always been, part of imprisonment. For centuries within American women’s prisons, state actors have assaulted, traumatized, and subordinated the vulnerable people held there. Twenty years after passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), women who are incarcerated still face shocking levels of sexual abuse, harassment, and violence notwithstanding the law and policies that purport to address this harm. These conditions often persist despite officer firings, criminal prosecutions, and civil liability, and remain prevalent even during a #MeToo era that beckons greater intolerance for sexual harassment and abuse outside of prison. Just as #MeToo helped expose the systemic gender injustice that sustains abuse in the workplace and other areas of public life, the intractability of the sexual abuse crisis for incarcerated women demands recognition of the inequality and power imbalance at its root. PREA and reform discourse treats this harm, however, as an unwanted byproduct of an otherwise constitutional system of criminal justice. And the treatment of people in women’s prisons remains largely an afterthought in the response to the broader carceral sexual violence crisis. Those responses treat prison sexual abuse as a “conditions” problem capable of being remedied, no matter how persistent and endemic. This Article rejects that prevailing account and describes the ways in which women’s prisons create and exploit gender subordination resulting in more sexual violence and gender-based harm. As traced in this Article, Edna Mahan Prison in New Jersey serves as a dramatic example of the sordid history of women’s prisons in the United States. At one time, the facility operated as women-led radical prison without bars and locks. But once it operated like a traditional prison, sexual abuse plagued the facility for decades. New Jersey’s Governor announced plans to finally shutter the prison in 2020 after a sexual abuse crisis dominated headlines—the final blow to the progressive vision of its former reform-minded supervisor and namesake. Women’s experiences are often ignored in conversations about mass incarceration even though women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population and experience the highest rates of prison sexual violence as a group. The harm inflicted in women’s prisons differs from the crisis affecting men in that incarcerated women experience sexual abuse nearly exclusively at the hands of male correctional officers and staff. It thus mirrors the gender subordinating nature of sexual abuse and violence in the world outside of prisons even while it also thrives on the power dynamics constructed by prisons. This Article foregrounds those often overlooked concerns and identifies lessons from #MeToo that are necessary to end these sites of gender-based harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of crime reporting examine decisions to report to the police in community settings. While informative, this focus leaves a gap in identifying the correlates of official reporting behaviors among incarcerated individuals. This is noteworthy considering the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act mandating states collect and report data on sexual assaults in confinement facilities. To address these concerns, this study provides one of the first multivariable examinations of decisions to officially report sexual assaults to correctional staff. This study also examines the correlates of official reporting across perpetrator type (another incarcerated individual or correctional staff member) and the correlates for not reporting a sexual assault (embarrassment, fear of reprisal, and belief no investigation will take place). The findings indicate most sexual assaults are not reported, and few in-prison experiences or incident characteristics explain the decision to officially report or the reasons for not reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media often serve as audiences' primary source of information about the carceral system and inmates' lived experiences. While prison media frequently employ violent tropes, these narratives are scripted within the gendered context of the prison setting. In an online experiment, 104 young adults watched short video clips from male and female prison dramas depicting verbal (sexual and non-sexual) threats and evaluated the severity and actuation of threats. The results demonstrated that participants vary in their evaluation of threats based on the gender of characters in prison dramas and that these evaluations are influenced by participants' traditional gender role and prison rape myth acceptance. These findings have implications for how cultural apathy legitimizes and dismisses violence perpetuated by and within the prison industrial complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we highlight the key themes that emerged following training on preventing sexual violence in prison for high-level administrators in the United States. This included reference to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which was designed to prevent, detect, and respond to all acts of sexual harassment and sexual assault occurring within the American correctional system. The findings related to institutional safety have relevancy for both American and UK prisons, particularly due to a lack of research that overlaps both systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even with the dramatic increase in the number of female inmates in state and federal correctional institutions in recent decades, the criminal justice system continues to develop policies based on empirical research from male inmate programming. A shift in focus toward gender-responsive programming is challenging corrections to address women’s needs. This study’s data are a result of a settlement agreement between the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) and a state Department of Corrections (DOC) to explore female inmates’ perceptions of sexual and physical safety in the state’s largest correctional faculty. The Prison Rape Elimination Act Survey Instrument (PSI) was designed with 15 categories and 76 questions, including demographic data, sexual and physical safety factors, and items related to programs. Results of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicate that the instrument has four factors detecting 41% of the variance explained. Recommendations are to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assure that the instrument is psychometrically sound and the factors are verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article discusses the modest aspirations of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”) that passed unanimously in the United States Congress in 2003. The Article posits that PREA created opportunities for holding correctional authorities accountable by creating a baseline for safety and setting more transparent expectations for agencies’ practices for protecting prisoners from sexual abuse. Additionally, the Article posits that PREA enhanced the evolving standards of decency for the Eighth Amendment and articulated clear expectations of correctional authorities to provide sexual safety for people in custody. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simona Mitroiu's monograph, "Women's Life Writing in Post-Communist Romania," provides an introduction to life writing by women in Eastern Europe and Romania. The book explores key theoretical concepts such as self-narration, privacy of the self, and collective memory. Mitroiu examines the relationship between women's agency and life writing in the context of power regimes, arguing that life writing becomes a means through which Romanian women restore their agency. The book also discusses the obstacles faced by intellectuals and writers during communist regimes, particularly in Romania. It includes case studies of writers Ana Blandiana, Mihaela Miroiu, and Herta Müller, as well as anthologies of women's stories of everyday life during communism. The volume cites important scholarly contributions and emphasizes the need for intersectionality in discussing women's issues. Overall, it provides a concise introduction to understanding how women navigated communism and post-communism through writing. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the feasibility of criminal liability for guards who sexually assault women inmates in the U.S. Topics discussed include provisions of the U.S. Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) which set forth various policies and provisions aimed at ending custodial sexual assault; laws under Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which seeks to curb prisoner civil litigation; and legal barriers that inmates face to accessing the courts.

This paper examines whether cost-benefit analysis could provide empirical support for protecting human rights or humanitarian intervention. Topics covered include monetizing human rights and comparing the benefits of protecting human rights with their attendant costs, cost-benefit analysis as a decision-making methodology, assessment of the costs that occur when rights are violated and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) as an example of cost-benefit analysis in the field of crime prevention.

The article points out the failure of states to adhere to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in juvenile correctional facilities resulting in the violation of the Eighth Amendment constitutional right. A discussion of PREA and the basic principles of Eighth Amendment jurisprudence is provided. The article also notes the insufficient protections of juveniles in correctional facilities and recommends that states implement policies that eliminate staff-on-inmate sexual abuse.

Purpose: This chapter illuminates the ways in which the coherent arrangements of prisons contribute to variation in implementation, functioning, and consequences of a purportedly gender neutral policy, the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), between women's and men's prisons. Methodology/Approach: Guided by grounded theory, two waves of qualitative interviews with inmates, staff, and volunteers at two Midwest women's prisons were conducted for a total of 61 interviews. Interviews were supplemented with archival data obtained from state historical archives, news outlets, and the Iowa Department of Corrections, as well as participant observation of prisoner advocacy group meetings and the Iowa Board of Corrections' meetings, and a content analysis of an online discussion forum for correctional officers. Findings: We find that the gender subtext of prisons shapes the way the PREA is perceived and implemented. Overall, we argue that due to founding logics that differentially shaped the coherent arrangements of men's and women's prisons, blanket policies operate differently in these institutions. The gender subtext of prisons, specifically the structural arrangements and cultural processes within women's and men's prisons form different landscapes in which the PREA is perceived, enforced, and responded to. Practical Implications: Given these findings, we call for gender-informed policy that takes gender subtext into account but that also avoids the trap of statistical discrimination present in some gender responsive policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses about how incarceration and the threat of prison sexual violence shapes gender roles, particularly toxic masculinity in the U.S. Topics discussed include analysis of gender relations in prison; situation in men's and women's correctional facilities; and analysis of gay, lesbian, and gender variant prisoners in a prison system.

More than 80,000 prisoners each year are sexually victimized during incarceration, but only about 8% report victimization to correctional authorities. Complicating reporting is the fact that half of the perpetrators are staff members. Given the restrictive and highly regulated prison environment, studies that examine reporting behaviors are difficult to conduct and to date information available relied on those who have reported or hypothetical victimization studies. This study uses an ecological framework and archival data from a class action lawsuit of sexual misconduct to determine predictors of reporting. Relying on a subsample of 179 women, chosen because they have all experienced at least 1 penetration offense, we use bivariate and multivariable mixed effects logistic regression analyses to examine individual, assault, and context-level predictors of reporting on 397 incidents of staff sexual misconduct. The final model revealed that that 6 predictors (age at time of assault, physical injury, multiple incidents, perpetrator with multiple victims, the year the abuse began, and the number of years women have left on their sentence) account for 58% of the variance in reporting. Disclosure to inmate peers and/or family and friends was significant in the bivariate results. These findings indicate the need for stronger and more systematic implementation of Prison Rape Elimination Act guidelines and remedies that create and enforce sanctions, including termination, for staff violating policy and state law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in the military are more likely to be raped by other service members than to be killed in combat. Female prisoners internalize rape by corrections officers as an inherent part of their sentence. Immigrants held in detention fearing deportation or other legal action endure rape to avoid compromising their cases. This Article draws parallels among closed institutional systems of prisons, immigration detention, and the military. The closed nature of these systems creates an environment where sexual victimization occurs in isolation, often without knowledge of or intervention by those on the outside, and the internal processes for addressing this victimization allow for sweeping discretion on the part of system actors. This Article recommends a two-part strategy to better make victims whole and effect systemic, legal, and cultural change: the use of civil lawsuits generally, with a focus on the class action suit, supplemented by administrative law to enforce federal rules on sexual violence in closed systems. This Article strives to break down the walls that separate these different closed systems into silos, toward an end of shifting laws and policy to better address the multi-faceted problem of sexual victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]