This clandestine institutionalization of sexual abuse violates one of the guiding principles of the United Nations’ Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, a UN instrument first adopted in 1955 and used as a guideline by many governments to achieve what is known as “good prison practice.” However, the U.S. government has done little to publicize these rules and it is probably the case that most correctional personnel have never heard of these UN standards.
