to satisfy sexual needs and the brutal desire for power. The exact number of sexually assaulted prisoners is unknown, but a conservative estimate, based on two decades of surveys, is that “more than 290,000 males are sexually assaulted behind bars every year. By comparison, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that there are 135,000 rapes of women a year nationwide, though many groups believe the number is higher.”(Mezey and King, 1995). Inmate rape is not a sexually motivated act but instead constitutes a sexual expression of aggression. Once victimized, a prisoner is marked as a continual target for sexual attack and is repeatedly subjected to gang rapes, or must trade submission to one or more men in exchange for protection from the rest. Very few of these rapes are ever reported to administrators, much less prosecuted. “If a prisoner is middle-class, not `street-wise,' not affiliated with a gang, not part of the racial or ethnic group that dominates his institution or held in a big city jail, he is likely to be a target.”(Scacco, 1992). The victims are usually heterosexuals who are forced into a passive sexual role, though the relatively few known homosexuals are perhaps three times as likely to be raped. The assailants are almost always heterosexual by preference; thus the phrase `homosexual rape' is extremely misleading. Being a male inmate victim of rape is traumatizing since he is devalued in regard to the two primary sources of his identity: sexuality and aggression. “Sexual abuse has a special meaning for the male victim. Their gender identity and gender image is tarnished by the use which another male had with their body.” (Ben-David, 1993). Though the problem has not been adequately studied, sexual attack among female prisoners is thought to be much rarer; women are, however, far more likely to be sexually abused by guards. The catastrophic experience of sexual violence usually extends beyond a single incident, often becoming a daily assault. “Psychologists and rape counselors believe that the pent-up rage caused by these assaults can cause victims, especially if they don

Some topics in this essay:
Justice Statistics, Court California, York City, Ft Bragg, Education Project, Amendment Constitution, Glade Fla, , Smith Wade, Court Appeals, prisoner rape, sexual attack, prisons jails, supreme court, prisoner victims, sexually assaulted, prison jail, inmate rape, statistics estimates, practical advice,