Govt: Over 4 percent of prison inmates, over 3 percent of jail inmates victimized sexually

90,000 inmates sexually victimized behind bars

WASHINGTON — The federal government says 4.4 percent of inmates in prison and 3.1 percent of inmates in jail report being victimized sexually by another inmate or staff member.

In a new study, the Justice Department says those percentages translate to the sexual victimization of 88,500 inmates behind bars nationwide.

Female inmates were more than twice as likely as male inmates to report experiencing sexual victimization by another inmate.