Survivor Stories
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Rafael, New York
Rafael, New York
After serving 23 years without incident, Rafael encountered a corrections officer who conducted abusive pat searches on inmates. Despite Rafael’s effort to report the officer, nothing was done.
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Frank, California
Frank, California
While in a Los Angeles jail, Frank suffered persistent harassment by corrections officers for being openly gay. After a particularly intense verbal attack, Frank was beaten and raped by an officer in the middle of the night. He was released a few days later, and filed formal complaints.
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Jan, Michigan
Jan, Michigan
A power-obsessed prison worker abused Jan and many other inmates for years before he was caught. Years later, Jan and hundreds of female state prisoners settled a class action suit with Michigan for over $100 million after a jury found that prison officials for years ignored cases of rape, sexual advances, and groping by staff.
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Some of these stories are graphic, uncensored accounts of actual rapes and surrounding circumstances. The language used may be raw and include street slang. JDI has made only minor edits for spelling and clarity. The views expressed are those of the individual survivor/author, and are not necessarily the views of Just Detention International.
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Derrick survived a sexual assault in a Florida prison — and the perpetrators got away with it. As a result of the abuse, Derrick struggles with depression, insomnia, and feelings of anger.
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Ernest was sexually abused repeatedly by another prisoner while serving time in a Florida prison. Instead of giving him help, prison officials put Ernest in solitary confinement.
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Stephen was brutally gang-raped after being arrested at a Quaker pray-in at the White House. He contracted HIV as a consequence of the rape, and later died from an AIDS-related illness.
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After serving 23 years without incident, Rafael encountered a corrections officer who conducted abusive pat searches on inmates. Despite Rafael’s effort to report the officer, nothing was done.
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After she was repeatedly raped by an officer in a federal detention center, Kimberly learned that the same man had assaulted a number of other women. The Bureau of Prisons had been notified about the officer’s behavior, but failed to do anything – until Kimberly spoke out and demanded justice.