Sexual Victimization in Local Jails Reported by Inmates, 2023–24

• NCJ Number: 309852
• Author(s): Michael B. Field, BJS Statistician; Amy D. Lauger, BJS Statistician; Shelby Kottke-Weaver, PhD, Former BJS Statistician
• Date Published: December 2025
• Publication Series: PREA Publications
• Publication Type: Publication

Description

This report presents findings from the fourth National Inmate Survey (NIS-4) in local jails as part of BJS’s National Prison Rape Statistics Program, which collects allegations of sexual victimization directly from victims. This report provides estimates of sexual victimization in local jails, provides trend data from 2011-12 to 2023-24, and fulfills the requirement under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; P.L. 108–79) to provide a list of jails according to their prevalence of sexual victimization.

Highlights

• The overall rate of sexual victimization reported by adult inmates increased from 3.2% in 2011–12 to 4.0% in 2023–24.
• In 2023–24, 2.2% of adult inmates reported sexual victimization by another inmate and 2.3% reported sexual victimization by facility staff.
• Based on their rates of overall sexual victimization in 2023–24, eight jails were identified as high-rate facilities.
• Eleven jails were identified as high-rate facilities based on the prevalence of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization in 2023–24. Eight jails were identified as high rate based on the prevalence of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization.