30-e-2 Sexual Abuse

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

30-E-2. Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse includes rape and unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature, such as fondling someone else's breasts and/or genitals.⁹³ Generally, bringing a Section 1983 suit for sexual abuse in prison requires analyzing whether an Eighth Amendment violation occurred.⁹⁴ That is, if a prison official sexually abuses you, you must show that the prison official acted maliciously, and that you suffered harm.⁹⁵ Under PREA, the "harm" element is broadly interpreted.⁹⁶ Further, sexual abuse is shown by proving that the degree of assault violates "contemporary standards of decency."⁹⁷ With physical assault, this is easy to show, since if you can show that the prison official acted maliciously and sadistically, you have automatically proven that it violates contemporary standards of decency.⁹⁸ With sexual assault cases, the contemporary standards of decency are often evaluated based on what the state law might say about sexual contact between prisoners and prison employees, and whether psychological harm was intentionally inflicted, or whether the assault was "offensive to human dignity."⁹⁹ Courts have different ways of thinking about the subjective prong and analyzing whether a prison guard acted maliciously. Generally, courts assume that if you can show that the sexual contact did not serve a legitimate penological interest, the contact had malicious intent.¹⁰⁰ If another prisoner assaulted you, you need to show that prison officials acted with deliberate indifference and that you suffered harm.¹⁰¹

In addition, Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 2243, criminalizes sexual intercourse or any type of sexual contact between...