State responds to youth prison sexual victimization survey

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — While rates of sexual victimization in Ohio youth prisons are dropping, any victimization is unacceptable, an official with the Department of Youth Services testified.

Ohio was labeled a “high-rate state” with an average of 15.3% of incarcerated youth who responded to a survey reporting some kind of victimization, according to the 2018 survey done by the Bureau of Justice, an office within the U.S. Department of Justice.

Numbers are down from 2012, when 19.8% of youth reported being sexually victimized in some way, Julie Walburn, the Youth Services assistant director, told the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee on Thursday.

“While these numbers show improvement, no level of sexual victimization is ever acceptable,” Walburn said, according to Gongwer News Service. “We want all youth to feel safe physically, mentally and emotionally in our juvenile correctional facilities.”

The state has added private bathrooms and extra staffing at its facility in Circleville in central Ohio, Youth Services Director Ryan Gies told the committee.

The agency has also upgraded security cameras and renovated bathrooms and showers at its Indian River facility in northeastern Ohio in compliance withe federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, Gies said.

Victimization could involve anything from being shown an inappropriate picture to coerced sexual acts, Gies said.