The signs hanging on the walls of Ohio's prisons serve as a constant reminder to inmates that sexual assaults are acts of violence and they need to break the silence and report sexual abuse when it happens.  The posters are part of a new campaign to increase awareness about sexual abuse in the state's prisons, an effort inspired by the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which was passed last year.

The wall postings are only one facet of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's comprehensive campaign to help prevent the sexual abuse of inmates, however.  In March, the agency implemented a Ten Point Plan to enhance policies and procedures regarding inmate sexual abuse.

"We really wanted to tackle it head on," said Thomas Stickrath, Assistant Director of the Ohio DRC.  "We've made [addressing prisoner rape] a priority.  We've been very public about it, both within our organization as well as externally."

Ohio is one of many states taking on the issue after the Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed last December by Congress with the goals of gathering national information about the problem and helping states to combat inmate sexual assaults in their correctional facilities. 

According to Stop Prisoner Rape, a national human rights organization, sexual assaults involving inmates are a serious problem for the country's correctional systems, with one in five men in prison being sexually abused and one in four women falling victim to the same type of abuse, most likely by a male staff member. 

In a report issued last December, SPR focused on the widespread abuse of female inmates in Ohio, in particular.  Although that was not the motivating factor for the DRC to create its Ten Point Plan, according to Stickrath, the agency hopes that inmate sexual abuse will become less common with it in place.

Pieces of the Plan

According to the Plan, several committees serve to focus on specific areas related to inmate sexual assaults, like sanctions for offenders and fear of reporting issues.  In addition, a general oversight committee was formed to keep an eye on federal legislation pertaining to the issue and to ensure implementation of each part of the plan.

"All of the committees that were mentioned in the plan have been formed," said Stickrath, noting that most committees are due to complete their first round of recommendations this month.  "A number of them are starting to get their actions plans in."

While the committees are working to develop goals for the future, enhanced staff training has already begun for both new employees, who will be educated about inmate sexual abuse during their orientations, and current staff members, who will receive the training during their annual in-service sessions.

While staff are educated, so, too are the inmates.  According to Stickrath, the DRC has created literature that is being disseminated to all offenders.

"We've developed some really good publications," Stickrath said.  "We've got a brochure called 'Sexual Assault Awareness' that is given to every inmate."

Included in the DRC's educational materials for inmates is information about rape avoidance, what to do if you are sexually assaulted and facts about sexual abuse.

"The brochure talks about the need to report and why it's important to report [sexual assaults]," Stickrath said.  "We think that's going to be helpful as well as posters that are now posted throughout our prisons."

Furthermore, the Plan calls for a process improvement team to examine the issue of under-reporting.

"We're trying to understand the dynamic of under-reporting and the fear of reporting," Stickrath said. 

The process improvement team's findings together with the brochures will help the department encourage inmates to report incidences of sexual assaults, Strickland hopes.  And victim support persons, which the Plan also calls for, will support inmates who have reportedly been assaulted. 

"We train our chaplains and the victim service coordinators [in how to support inmates who have been sexually assaulted]," Stickrath said.  "We've had other staff that want to volunteer to be part of that network, [too]."

Other aspects of the Plan include, investigation and data collection procedures are also being revamped so that information about assaults is now stored electronically. 

Aside from all of the changes that have gone into effect since the Ten Point Plan was announced in March, the DRC has also tweaked its healthcare protocols to support the plan's mission and ensure that offenders who report being sexually assaulted receive proper medical care.

Providing Proper Medical Care

According to Kay Northrup, Deputy Director of the Office of Correctional Health Care, if an inmate reports any kind of a sexual assault, he or she is taken directly to the medical department, which is staffed by a nurse at all times. 

"[The nurse] takes detailed information from the offender as to what happened to him," Northrup said.  "Depending on when the incident happened, if [it was] within 24 hours for an oral assault or 72 hours of an anal or vaginal [assault], then the inmate is told not to shower to preserve forensic evidence [or] not to rinse [his or her] mouth [or] brush [his or her] teeth."

The inmate's clothing is then secured, the shift commander is notified about what occurred and incident reports are filed, Northrup noted.  If there is a doctor on site, the inmate will undergo an external examination at the facility, she said.

Afterwards, or if there is no doctor present, the inmate is transported to the emergency room, where he or she is examined for forensic evidence, treated and counseled. 

"When they return to the institution, they would be referred to mental health services for follow-up," Northrup said.  "If immediately needed, we would implement our crisis policy [and] they would be [placed] under observation and have ready access to clinical counseling."

In addition, all inmates who report sexual assaults are tested for sexually transmitted diseases and female inmates are tested for pregnancy.  The STD tests are repeated in three months because they might not show up right away, Northrup said.   

If an inmate does not report a sexual assault, but asks the medical staff for an STD test, the staff is trained to talk with the inmate to determine why he wants to be tested to find out if a sexual assault may have taken place.  This is another way that inmates are made to feel comfortable about reporting sexual assaults.

"They give them the opportunity to explain why they think they are at risk," Northrup said. 

This support from medical staff accompanies the Ten Point Plan and further promotes its goals. 

The Importance of Outside Involvement

Another way the DRC is supporting its rape prevention effort is by requiring some of its staff members, including wardens, deputy wardens and parole regional administrators, to attend the Prison Rape Elimination Act videoconference that the National Institute of Corrections is hosting later this month, Strickland said.

"We've also invited to that various external stakeholders--law enforcement stakeholders and inmate advocacy groups and rape victim groups and sexual assault stakeholders," Strickrath said.  "Then after the videoconference we'll have a focus groups with stakeholders, having them react to our Ten Point Plan."

According to Stickrath, those focus groups will help the DRC tailor its plan for preventing inmate sexual assaults and improve the way the agency handles inmate sexual abuses in the future.

"Some of those groups are experts in the area of sexual assault.  They deal with it everyday, not in prison, but on the outside," Stickrath said.  "They are clearly experts in some of the areas that we are tackling.  I think we want to tap into that."

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To contact the DRC, call (614) 752-1150