Nearly half of prison staff who sexually abused inmates faced no legal consequences, according to a new federal report.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics report released this week looked at data from 2009 to 2011 in federal and state prisons, local jails, and other adult facilities.
The report found that just 46 percent of cases in which staff were found to have committed sexual assault were referred for prosecution.
In 15 percent of cases, staff members who carried out abuse were allowed to keep their jobs, according to the report.
“The key takeaway here is the levels of impunity in detention facilities,” Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, spokesperson for Just Detention International, told The Huffington Post. “Corrections agencies are not punishing sexual abuse committed by staff members nearly enough. These are known cases of sexual abuse and we’re talking about nearly half of staff who were found to have committed sexual misconduct who didn’t face any legal sanction.”