April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, a time dedicated to amplifying the voices of survivors and advocating justice. The goal should be not just awareness, but, wherever possible, prevention. As a formerly incarcerated woman, a survivor of sexual abuse, and now the executive director of Woman II Woman, I know that there is one place where women‘s voices are too often silenced and where the prevention of sexual assault is consistently deprioritized: inside the walls of America’s women’s prisons.
Prisons are already spaces of extreme vulnerability. Incarcerated women, who are almost all survivors of childhood abuse, domestic violence, or sex trafficking, are at risk of further victimization at a shockingly high rate. Every woman I met in prison is a survivor of some form of sexual abuse. The trauma doesn’t stop at intake. In too many cases, it continues behind bars at the hands of the very people entrusted with their safety. As if that is not enough, in an additional cruel and unusual punishment, women are now forcibly housed with intact trans-identifying male prisoners, many of whom are registered sex offenders.
Sexual abuse in prison is underreported, underprosecuted, and routinely ignored. When women do speak up, they face retaliation, face disbelief, or are gaslit into silence. The system is not designed to protect them. It’s designed to protect itself.
During my time behind bars, I witnessed women being coerced, threatened, and manipulated by staff and other incarcerated individuals. I saw how reporting abuse often led to solitary confinement for the victim, not justice for the perpetrator. I saw how institutions would “investigate” themselves only to find no wrongdoing, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Nearly every prison passes its annual Prison Rape Elimination Act audit. The prison where I spent five years, the Central California Women’s Facility, where multiple prisoners got pregnant by a trans-identifying man who transferred from a men’s prison, and where a former officer was just convicted of 64 out of 97 counts of rape against inmates, passes every single audit.
Now, as the leader of Woman II Woman, an organization founded and run by formerly incarcerated women, I continue to hear stories from those currently incarcerated. We receive calls and letters from women across California and the country, pleading for help, for protection, for someone to believe them. Their abusers count on their isolation, the lack of oversight, and the public’s indifference. These women see every day how their interests are pushed aside, most recently and shockingly, as legislators have quietly made women’s prisons co-ed.
We cannot allow these women to be forgotten. We must demand independent oversight of prisons and jails. We must ensure that women who report abuse are protected, not punished. We must create trauma-informed systems that prioritize dignity and safety over bureaucracy and optics.
We must also address the consequences of misguided policies that allow biological males to transfer into women’s prisons without consideration for the safety and trauma histories of female inmates. These policies are not compassionate. They are dangerous and cruel to the women in the system. Protecting women inside the prison system from further harm and abuse should not be a political issue. It is a moral imperative. This is a female human rights crisis that is already causing incredible trauma and harm, and could lead to far worse if we do not stop this institutional female erasure.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STORYTELLING
As an ambassador for Independent Women, I am proud to stand with other courageous women calling attention to this hidden crisis. As a Christian, I believe in redemption, restoration, and the God-given dignity of every human being. That includes the women society has locked away and forgotten. I have seen this process at work in my life. My struggles and experiences now give me this unique opportunity to stand up and speak out to advance the cause of justice and human rights. These women’s lives matter. Their safety matters. Their voices matter.
This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, let’s listen. Let’s act. Let’s be the ones who refused to look away.
Amie Ichikawa is an Independent Women ambassador and founder of Woman II Woman. She is closely involved in Independent Women Features’ documentary series Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons.