prevalence of sexual abuse in penitentiaries. The reliance on filed complaints appeared to understate the problem. For 2008, for example, the government had pre

prevalence of sexual abuse in penitentiaries. The reliance on filed complaints appeared to understate the problem. For 2008, for example, the government had previously tallied 935 confirmed instances of sexual abuse. After asking around, and performing some calculations, the Justice Department came up with a new number: 216,000. That’s 216,000 victims, not instances. These victims are often assaulted multiple times over the course of the year. The Justice Department now seems to be saying that prison rape accounted for the majority of all rapes committed in the US in 2008, likely making the United States the first country in the history of the world to count more rapes for men than for women. Did you catch the shift in targets? "Prevalence of sexual abuse" (undefined)..."prison rape". I've been unable to find the DoJ report this is coming from to find their definition of abuse, but the 216,000 number is thrown around a lot in the press - but never with a traceable reference I can find (and details vary - sometimes 2008, 2011, sometimes "at least", etc.) One other factor is that a large amount of the abuse is guards/staff abuse of inmates, so it isn't just "criminals in close association with criminals".