Reports of sexual assault have increased at jails and prisons in West Virginia, but punishments for perpetrators have not increased along with them.

Jail officials and prisoner rights advocates say that more inmates being comfortable enough to come forward is a good sign and that they are working to make further improvements.

The state Division of Corrections released data going back to 2008 that show, in the prisons, reports of sexual assaults have consistently increased, from 25 allegations in 2008 to 85 allegations in 2012 and 229 allegations in 2013.

The Regional Jail & Correctional Facility Authority didn’t start compiling reports until 2013, after new Prison Rape Elimination Act standards took effect, but the jails also show an increase, from 54 allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual acts and 36 reported allegations of staff sexual misconduct in 2013 to 89 allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual acts and 50 allegations of staff sexual misconduct in 2014.

A Division of Corrections official attributed the increase in the prisons to more training for prison staff and education for inmates after the Justice Department released in 2012 a final rule for the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. He said the number of reports also went up because all allegations are reported now. Before, an incident might not have been reported as an allegation if the investigation determined it was unsubstantiated.

While the number of allegations went up, the number viewed by jail and prison staff as substantiated, or determined to be true, is a different story.

In the prisons, whether allegations were substantiated followed a downward trend since 2008, from 80 percent substantiated in 2008 to 19 percent substantiated in 2012 and 17 percent substantiated in 2013.

In the jails, about 19 percent of inmate-on-inmate sexual acts were found to be substantiated in 2013. About 22 percent of allegations of staff sexual misconduct were found to be substantiated, while 17 percent were still under investigation at the time of the report.

About 15 percent of allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual acts and 8 percent of allegations of staff sexual misconduct were found to be substantiated in 2014.

Despite public perception, false reports of sexual assault are rare, although studies of false reporting typically focus on the general population.

Chris Daley, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, said it’s hard to tell how many inmates are victimized but aren’t believed. Just Detention International is a health and human rights organization that works to end sexual abuse in all forms of detention.

Daley said the system in West Virginia does seem to be more just than the rest of the nation, on average, since Bureau of Justice statistics show typically just 10 percent of claims are found to be substantiated nationwide.

Daley offered a theory for why reports of non-consensual sexual acts could be going up while the number of substantiated claims aren’t following that trend.

He said, “not that it looks like progress, but paradoxically, it is.”

He said, as many facilities across the country have tried to adapt to new PREA guidelines, they have focused on encouraging more reporting before focusing on other areas, including improving investigations of the allegations and evidence preservation.

“We’re getting more reports, which is a good thing,” he said. “It’s just so much easier to create a pamphlet for inmates or to put up posters and explain to them how to report than it is to get together the investigative folks and all of your staff.”

In describing the investigative process, a Division of Corrections official said situations in which the alleged victim and perpetrator have differing stories would end up viewed as unsubstantiated, if no physical evidence is present.

Daley said there are other ways prison officials could be working to prove the crime occurred.

“When we talk about the big cultural-change piece, getting staff to hold other staff accountable is a huge part of it,” he said. “Probably someone knew, at the very least, something wasn’t right. In a lot of these agencies, a culture of silence has developed around these issues.”

The Division of Corrections official said staff members who investigate the claims receive specialized training in the collection and preservation of evidence, interviewing, PREA report writing and other parts of an investigation.

He also said one of the factors investigators consider is if the alleged victim has lied to law enforcement or been charged with perjury, as well as if the accused perpetrator has been charged with sexual assault.

Daley said prior convictions for a perpetrator could have some relevance, but the victim’s past criminal history is likely irrelevant.

Sexual trauma can make re-entry into life outside of jail more difficult, Daley said.

“It makes it more difficult to plan a future for yourself — one in which you can be happy,” he said. “We also know that it makes it much more difficult to trust people.”

Real systemic change in jails and prisons generally starts at the top, with strong leadership, Daley said.

“You have to build trust that is not there right now,” he said. “You build that trust by making clear what your policy is and doing what you say you’re going to do.”

Daley said he is seeing evidence of that leadership at the Regional Jail Authority.

The RJA reached out to Just Detention International for help implementing the PREA changes.

It also announced earlier this month it had received a two-year $410,522 matching grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to develop zero-tolerance programs at the Eastern, Southern, Tygart Valley and Western regional jails.

“From what we’ve seen, their attitude is exactly the right one to have, and there’s a very good possibility they’re going to be a big PREA success story,” Daley said.

Daley said he expects to see an uptick in substantiated complaints throughout the country and in West Virginia as facilities complete the PREA implementations.

Mike Woelfel, an attorney who has represented dozens of inmates in sexual-assault lawsuits against the state, said he has been receiving fewer requests for his services.

“The Regional Jail Authority has taken, I think, some pretty distinct positive measures in the last six to 12 months,” he said. “I applaud that. We’ve seen more installation of cameras. We’ve had staff prosecuted. We’ve had staff resigning. I think there’s a much better system in place with the Regional Jail Authority and in terms of investigating complaints of sexual exploitation of women in the state.”

The Division of Corrections also is taking steps to improve the problem, according to Lawrence Messina, spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

He said PREA training for staff is being updated and PREA compliance managers from each facility meet once per month. The West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services is helping develop specific training for victim advocates at the rape crisis centers to field requests for services from inmates.

Messina said jail and prison officials believe actual incidents of sexual assaults have decreased in response to PREA, because inmates and staff are aware that the Division of Corrections and the Regional Jail Authority are now watching more closely.

He said investigators generally follow the same process as law enforcement when responding to an allegation.

“They face the same challenges in establishing the veracity of an allegation and building a case as law enforcement generally,” he said in an email. “It is important to note that inmates can still receive services and be relocated, even if the allegations they file are not substantiated.”

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5163 or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.