Survivor Stories

JDI has made only minor edits for spelling and clarity. Please note that some of these stories are graphic and may be difficult to read.

  • Matthew was raped by his cellmate. After years of suffering alone, Matthew reached out to his local rape crisis center and, with the help of two dedicated victim advocates, is on the path to healing.

  • Clarence was the target of repeated sexual assaults by other inmates while serving time in a Texas prison. Staff intervened only when Clarence threatened to hurt himself, and on many occasions they have retaliated against him for reporting.

  • A female corrections officer regularly groped and verbally harassed Beverly during pat searches at the Crain Unit, a women’s prison run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. After reporting the abuse, she was transferred to a maximum security prison far away from her family.

  • Tabitha is a transgender woman who has been sexually assaulted by fellow prisoners at several men’s prisons throughout New York State. She has never gotten a response for reporting the abuse, and was even raped once while trying to file a grievance.

     

  • One day in 1986, in the Louisiana town where I grew up, a police officer drove up beside me as I was walking home from my grandparents’ house. The officer asked me a series of questions. Then he asked me if I would like a ride home. He said I could sit in the front seat. I knew his entire family, and I had never been in a police car before, so I didn’t feel I was in any danger. At that time my perception of police officers was positive.