Prison rape

Lore & Background

In the United States, the overwhelming majority of prison rape cases involve men raped by other men, partly because most incarcerated people are men. Public awareness is relatively recent, and prevalence estimates have varied widely. Historical estimates from the 1980s and 1990s range from 9% to 23% depending on the study and population.

Reader's Guide

Prison rape is a documented phenomenon across multiple countries and regions. In the Middle East, rape is regularly used in prisons, with sexual abuse reported in UAE, Saudi, and Bahraini prisons. In Iran, sexual violence against political prisoners is prevalent and allegedly ignored or facilitated by authorities; reports to the United Nations allege rape by interrogators for decades, including during the 1980s after the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Following the 2009 presidential election protests, opposition groups reported mass rape of men, women, and children by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin. In Turkey, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reported widespread rape and abuse of prisoners, with Kurdish prisoners specifically targeted. In China, BBC News reported in February 2021 eyewitness accounts of systematic rape of Uyghur women in Xinjiang internment camps, with former detainees describing gang rapes and sexual abuse during torture. The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 was the first US federal law specifically addressing sexual assault of prisoners.

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