An End to Silence [1] is a website of resources about stopping and surviving rape and sexual assault in prisons. Developed by American University’s Washington College of Law, the web site includes publications like An End to Silence: Prisoners’ Handbook on Identifying and Addressing Sexual Misconduct [2], contact information for the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Coordinators in each state [3], and contact information for organizations that will assist survivors of sexual assault and rape. [4]

The handbook, An End to Silence: Prisoners’ Handbook on Identifying and Addressing Sexual Misconduct [5], attempts to answer prisoners’ questions about sexual misconduct between prisoners and correctional staff and provides suggestions for different ways to make the assaults stop. The handbook also includes contact information for the attorneys general in all 50 states and a listing of laws governing sexual misconduct in prisons. Some of the information is slightly out of date. For example, the publication states that Oregon has no laws prohibiting sexual misconduct by prison staff, but the handbook was written before Oregon passed a law prohibiting sexual contact between corrections officers and prisoners.

This news brief is based on the web site An End to Silence – the NIC/WCL Project on Addressing Prison Rape: Preventing the Sexual Abuse of Individuals in Custody.  [6]