Inmates said they were subject to reprisals if they attempted to report the abuse. (Courtesy Mike Cogh/ Creative Commons)

Inmates allege they were subject to rape, sexual assault and harassment by guards. The investigation by the Justice Department was spurred by a complaint filed by the legal aid group, Equal Justice Initiative. The complaint included interviews with 50 women incarcerated at the prison, many of whom said they were subject to being punished if they attempted to report the abuse.

“A lot of it goes on in the middle of the night when no one thinks anyone is listening,” former inmate Stephanie Hibbett told AP. “I didn’t sleep a lot. You’d see a woman get up and go into the bathroom and a guard go in after her and another one stand watch. Nobody would say anything. A lot were too scared.”

Alabama Prisons Commissioner Kim Thomas said he is not launching an independent investigation because reports of sexual abuse are already agressively investigated and that even a first offense results in termination for a guard. 

Read the entire story on the Washington Post. 

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