Sex—Consensual

Research Studies

Few scholarly studies have examined consensual sex (i.e., voluntary sexual contact between two or more inmates) in prison. Instead, substantial attention has been devoted to rape and sexual coercion behind prison walls, even though this actually comprises a minority of the sexual activity within prison. The small amount of research that does exist has produced conflicting evidence of the prevalence of consensual sexual activity in prisons. In male institutions, for example, studies of prevalence have yielded a wide range of inmates reporting consensual sex—from 2% to 65%. Studies of female institutions have reported rates of up to 86%.

There are numerous problems in conducting research that attempts to examine sexuality in prison. First, many studies are based on prisoner surveys or interviews. Unless the entire population of a prison, or even of a prison system, is examined, there is always a problem of unrepresentative sampling. In addition, prisoners who admit to homosexual sexual activity, consensual or otherwise, may be stigmatized. They may be labeled as weak or easy victims and thus may be afraid of being truthful, despite guarantees of anonymity or confidentiality from researchers. Finally, it is difficult to establish meaningful measures of sexual behavior. It is tempting simply to classify sexual acts as consensual when the inmate voluntarily participates, and as nonconsensual when the sexual activity is forced. However, this dichotomy leaves many questions unanswered, including what sexual acts—consensual or not—are involved and how to understand whether a prisoner agrees freely to sexual activity or not.

The latter point is particularly important. For instance, in male prisons, inmates may create partnerships based on one man providing sexual favors to another in return for protection. While the prisoner may voluntarily establish this type of relationship, he may do so only out of fear for his own safety, making it less than consensual. Likewise, in female prisons, many inmates develop relationships, but not all have a sexual component. Attempts to measure sexuality must be considered separately from inmate relationships.

Consensual Sex in Prisons