CABWHP publishes issue guides with thorough analyses of health policy issues addressing mental, emotional and physical health. Our Issue Guides are distributed via mail to Policy Advisory Group members and to over 1,000 colleagues and organizational collaborators. Both our Issue Guides and newsletters can be downloaded from our website.

Sexual Assault in Prison

Reproductive Justice in communities of color also includes the right to be free from sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation. These violent acts impact women’s rights to control their own bodies, and thus their reproductive health. Sexual assault in prison, as in the community, has long-lasting physical and psychological consequences for the survivor. Rates of sexual assault on women in prison have been reported to be as high as 27% in some facilities. Young women, women with disabilities, and first-time offenders, are especially at risk for this type of abuse by prison staff. These inmates are exposed to disease, sometimes impregnated by guards, and then subjected to inappropriate segregation and inadequate access to healthcare. The horror of prison rape is intensified by the fact that women in prison have often experienced prior sexual abuse or assault at a higher rate than the general population of women. Guarding of female inmates by male guards is opposed by human rights activists, as it is known to increase sexual abuse, but California’s non-discrimination laws prohibit hiring of only female guards in women’s detention centers.

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