‘This Is Wrong’: The Hurdles Keeping Sexual Assault Survivors Behind Bars From Services

Jessica Seipel still remembers how intimidated she was the first time she entered a prison. “You go through a door and hear it slam behind you,” she told Rewire. “Then you go through another door and you hear that slam behind you.”

Seipel was entering the prison as a rape crisis counselor to provide support services and advocacy for a person incarcerated within. She reminded herself, “I’m going to be here for only a few hours. What does it mean for someone who is a survivor [who doesn’t get to leave] and who has no control over the lights, their clothes, [or] when they get up or go to bed?”