Oslund Udo Little Attorney Ruby Aliment Featured in WSAJ Trial News on Custodial Sexual Abuse in Washington

Custodial sexual abuse occurs when individuals in positions of power within a jail, prison, juvenile detention facility, or other institutional setting exploit their authority. Harm in these environments can take many forms, including a corrections officer demanding sexual favors, a staff member engaging in nonconsensual touching, or repeated verbal sexual harassment and inappropriate comments.

“In the United States, on any given day, more than 40,000 children and teenagers are held in juvenile detention facilities. Some researchers estimate that at least 40 percent of all boys and girls will have been raped by another inmate or guard before leaving the juvenile justice system. Others estimate that staff abuse 6.1 percent of incarcerated boys and 2.9 percent of girls in just one calendar year,” Ruby wrote in her piece for WSAJ.

“Though these statistics suggest young people are abused mostly by fellow inmates, the opposite is true. 90 percent of youth who experience sexual abuse in detention settings are young boys and teenage boys abused by women staff.”

“For plaintiffs’ lawyers, these numbers are clear evidence that abuse in juvenile custody is not an aberration or the fault of a few bad apples. They show widespread, institutional negligence. Yet many survivors of sexual abuse in juvenile detention never learn that what happened to them was wrong.”

Because institutions control nearly every aspect of daily life in detention settings, experiencing this type of trauma can feel profoundly isolating. Recognizing the reality of the harm and knowing that pathways to support exist can be an empowering step forward.