Likewise, in her 12 years at the helm of Open Doors, Rodriguez said just one former inmate had confided in her about experiencing a sexual assault.

Nor did any of them admit to ever witnessing such an assault. Not a single one admitted to being a victim. Rodriguez and her staff interviewed more than a dozen inmates at the time. About 10 years ago, she says her organization was hired by the Department of Corrections as a subcontractor on a federal grant intended to help the state keep better track of incidents of sexual assaults in prison. Like Mann, Rodriguez knows firsthand how difficult it is to get prisoners to talk about rape. “That seems like a fairly large number,” Rodriguez said. Last time she had looked into the issue, about a decade ago, Rodriquez said she was aware of just one or two incidents of rape in the state prison system. Sol Rodriguez, the executive director of Open Doors, an advocacy and resource center for ex-offenders, was surprised by the data provided to GoLocalProv. He said concerns that a client’s youth or physical characteristics might make them vulnerable to sexual assault in prison is an issue often raised between defense attorneys and prosecutors. Though victims are hesitant to share their experiences, Mann said the reality of sexual assault in prison is apparent to him in his work as criminal defense lawyer. “You’d have to have your eyes closed totally … to not know it takes place,” said Bob Mann, a Providence-based criminal defense attorney with 40 years of experience under his belt.Īnd yet, Mann could think of just one client over that period who had told him that he or she was the victim of sexual assault. GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE - SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST The documents put numbers to a reality that has long been known to afflict the prison system nationally but has been hard to put a face to because of the reluctance of current and former prisoners to discuss the incidents-due to the shame and stigma associated with being a rape victim and the fear of reprisals from offending inmates, among other factors. The 20 cases that were not confirmed were considered either unsubstantiated, unfounded, or still under investigation, according to Jeff Renzi, the Associate Director of Planning and Research at the state Department of Corrections. Rhode Island state authorities recorded 28 cases of rape and other sexual assaults in state prisons and were able to confirm eight of them over the last three years, according to documents provided in response to a public records request.

Ridoc office of inspections