Spheres of Consent: An Analysis of the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Women Incarcerated in the State of Hawaii

• NCJ Number: 174653
• Journal: Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: 1997 Pages: 61-84
• Author(s): A L Baro
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A review of the literature on the vulnerability of female prisoners to sexual assault and the ineffectiveness of sexual assault reform laws is used to explain how the sexual abuse and exploitation of Hawaii's female prisoners became a chronic problem.

Abstract

In addition to comparing the literature on women in prison with the situation of female inmates in Hawaii, this study involved some participant observation, interviews, and the examination of government documents and media reports. Participant observation was limited to the 1982-85 and 1987-90 portions of the study period (1982-94). The major theme of the findings is the abandonment of female inmate victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. In moving women inmates rather than controlling staff, prison administrators have abandoned both the victims and their own managers. Once moved, it also appears that this relatively small population and its management were ignored. Requests for competent, formal, or professional investigations were not heeded until pressure was applied by those outside the prison bureaucracy. The study found that female inmates are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation, such that "rumors" of staff sexual misconduct should always be fully and competently investigation. Also, staff training programs in cross-gender supervision and the vulnerability of female prisoners must be developed and implemented. Further, laws that make any staff/inmate sexual contact a crime must be enforced; and the social status of women in general and women inmates in particular is not high enough to generate the political will to comply with equal protection or sexual assault laws. Political pressure must be applied to address the problem, or women inmates will continue to be sexually abused and exploited. Reform efforts must also include more research, which should begin by compiling official statistics on the frequency of staff sexual abuse or exploitation of women inmates. 70 references