By Allan Lengel
The problem has become so serious that the Justice Department is pressing federal prison officials to release some female inmates who have been sexually assaulted by prison employees, the New York Times reports.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco has been pressing prison officials in recent weeks to release the inmates under the system’s compassionate release program.
The Times reports:
“The push comes amid new revelations about the extent of abuse of women, and the unwillingness of many prison officials, over decades and at all levels in the system, to address a crisis that has long been an open secret in government.”
“I was sentenced and put in prison for choices I made — I was not sent to prison to be raped and abused,” Briane Moore, who was repeatedly assaulted by an official at a women’s prison in West Virginia who threatened to block a transfer to a facility closer to her family if she resisted, the Times reports. She was one of several women who provided testimony to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
