Sexual Assault in Prison - Research Paper Example

Prison violence includes rape, gang fights, duty manipulation and death as a resultant. The paper will be a focus on rape as a form of prison violence. Rape cases are familiar in all genders. However, masculine prisons record the highest number of prison rape victims. Rape is defined as the act by which sexual relations are obtained through physical force, threats or intimidation. The rate of prison rape cases have grown significantly in recent years. The issue has become sensitive that special groups have been given the mandate to find lasting solutions.

Sexual violence in male prisons is a very sensitive issue when being tackled within the prison. Due to fear of being raped, victims and fellow prisoners choose not to report cases of rape. It is found that under assurance of secrecy and security, prisoners give out information on their sexual experiences while in prison, (Smith, pp. 97). For instance, there was a prisoner interview held in the Philadelphia correctional facilities. In the exercise, 3,304 prisoners were interviewed. 156 prisoners interviewed admitted to be victims of sexual violence.

This gives about 4.7% of the prisoners in the institution. This can lead to an assumption that the rape cases are no different for the past prisoners in the institution. . In another report, a prison in Nebraska has the highest rate of staff-inmate sexual abuse of 12.2%. September 4th 2003: The day when the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission was founded under the Prison rape elimination act of 2003. The commission was issued with the mandate of the detection, analyzing and finding solutions to reduce prison sexual abuse.

With the commission, abused prisoners are able to step up and report these cases of abuse. Rather than having the feeling of justice being done, it also gives them psychological confidence. Boosting psychological confidence of a sexual victim is the first way to recovery and forgiveness. Human right groups also influence greatly on the cases of prison abuse. These agencies may force a prison reshuffle and provision of medical care that the victims must be provided with. Agencies also push for prison staff alignment.

With a proper and just prison staff, the welfare of prisons will be in good hands. This will also reduce the number of staff-inmate abuse. To curb this menace, a proper program and design should be established and implemented. The design should be able to rattle all stakeholders in prison facilities. The program should cover from top shelf management, to the bottom prison guard and warden. The design should be in a way that inmate-staff manipulation will be stopped. The design should mostly focus on prison management.

With a proper management, there will be a proper staff and, hence, a proper open environment in the prisons. Most of all, the design should be able to give sexual abuse victims the room to report the incidences. After the report has been filed, the design should be able to find the appropriate way to