EJI
WETUMPKA, Ala. — Lawyers with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice were at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama, last week as part of a formal inquiry into widespread sexual abuse of women prisoners by male guards.
Last year, EJI filed a complaint with the Justice Department calling for a swift and thorough federal investigation into the rampant abuse at Tutwiler, where in interviews with more than 50 incarcerated women, EJI had uncovered evidence of frequent and severe officer-on-inmate sexual violence.
Consultants with the National Institute of Corrections conducted an assessment of conditions at the prison and earlier this year released a report finding that female prisoners who report sexual abuse and misconduct at Tutwiler routinely have been placed in segregation, stripped of their property, denied contact with their families, and forced to submit to unwanted medical procedures.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has now opened a formal investigation under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) of 1980, a federal law intended to protect the rights of people in state or local correctional facilities, nursing homes, mental health facilities, and institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Full story: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LAUNCHES OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION INTO SEXUAL ABUSE OF INMATES AT TUTWILER PRISON