The states' failure clearly to prohibit sexual misconduct and ensure that such abuse is reported and investigated whenever it occurs largely keeps custodial sexual misconduct in women's prisons in the United States hidden from public view. As noted above, the added possibility that prisoners might themselves be punished for such misconduct only drives the problem further underground. In addition, while prison authorities administratively segregate female prisoners pending allegations of sexual misconduct, they routinely fail to take any administrative action against the officers who are also implicated in such allegations. Thus, while prisoners alleging sexual abuse are in fact or effect being punished, in no state that we investigated does a guarantee exist that an officer accused of sexual abuse will be removed from authority over or contact with the complainant pending the investigation's outcome.
Instead, a prisoner who files a sexual misconduct complaint may come into direct contact with the implicated officer and be unduly exposed to retaliation by him or his cohorts. Uma, a prisoner in California, told us that, after she came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, she was repeatedly harassed by staff as well as prisoners sympathetic to the staff. Corrections officers, she reported, repeatedly questioned her about her role in the investigation and called her out of her cell to tell her things, such as, "You think that was bad, now you're in my unit. Wait until you see what we do with you here."110 Our interviews in Georgia revealed that the women involved in the Cason suit have been retaliated against by corrections officers and prisoners.111
As a matter of policy, most states outlaw such retaliation, which also is clearly prohibited under international human rights law. Nonetheless and without exception, prisoners in every state told us of being terrified that if they registered a complaint of sexual abuse the officers would find out about it and seek retribution against them. In every prison that we visited, such retaliatory acts by officers frequently occurred. Attorney Brenda Smith of the NationalWomen's Law Center told us that in her experience retaliation against prisoners who complain of sexual abuse takes several forms: prisoners can be sent to administrative segregation, be targeted for disciplinary reports that affect their parole, or be taken out of favored educational programs or work assignments.112
110 Interview, California, July 1994.
111 Interview, Georgia, March 1994.
112 Interview, Brenda Smith, senior staff counsel, National Women's Law Center, February 27, 1995.
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