Survivor Stories

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.

  • In the summer of 2001, when I was just a teenager, a police officer sexually assaulted me outside my apartment complex in Virginia. As I was walking on the sidewalk with a friend, sometime after 11:00 pm, two white police officers stopped us. Then they frisked us. The officer who was frisking me grabbed my private part. I immediately complained, and he responded by grabbing me by my shirt from behind and choking me. He stopped only after the other police officer told him that somebody across the street was watching.

  • While detained at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, a male corrections officer sexually assaulted Loretta over a period of months. She reported the abuse, which led to the officer’s conviction on sexual misconduct charges. As a result, staff and inmates have retaliated against Loretta.

  • A transgender woman serving time in a men’s prison in Oklahoma, Heather* has been regularly subjected to degrading and abusive cross-gender strip searches.

     

  • 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.

  • James was raped twice in two days by a prisoner in a Massachusetts jail. The assaults left him feeling devastated, and triggered deeply painful feelings related to his childhood abuse.