Quotes from Fleisher-Krienert study on sexual violence in prisons

Matthew Bowen, who blogs for the National Crime Prevention Council, points me to a just-released, DOJ-funded report "The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence" (large PDF) written by Mark Fleisher of Case Western Reserve University and Jessie Krienert of Illinois State University.  The report's executive summary (pp. 258-267) is worth a read.

I skimmed the larger report, and here are a few selections I found interesting:

"What This Research Did Not Do
First, this research did not gather rape prevalence or incidence data."  (p. 59)

30% of male inmates that have served at least five years know "for sure" of rape that has happened in their facility, and 71% have heard about rape in their facility.  (pp. 116-119)

"A Cautionary Note to Readers
Prison culture’s sexual worldview conceptualizes homosexuality, sexual affairs, and sexual violence as a symbolically complex interplay of unconscious forces emerging in a social reality.  Prison worldview uses symbols of sexual violence contrary to and radically different from concepts of sexual violence in free society.  Prison culture’s worldview assumptions are predicated on physical and mental weakness, a 'blame the victim' sexual victimization philosophy, and antipathy toward victims’ pain and suffering.  Paradoxically, however, as noted above, prison culture worldview also abhors prison rapists and prison rape."  (p. 144)

"Prison culture interprets sexual violence by its context.  An act of sexual violence in one context may be interpreted as rape, but in another context, the same act may be interpreted as a turn-out, and in still another it may be an act of coming out of the closet.  Inmates see sexual violence.  However, their subjective perception of sexual violence dominates their interpretation of the violent act.  When inmates identified contexts of sexual violence, some said an act was rape; others said the same act was not rape."  (p. 154)