Elizabeth Lozano, a formerly incarcerated survivor of sexual abuse in California’s prison system, is urging state officials to release people who have been sexually assaulted by prison staff, arguing that incarcerated survivors cannot be protected while they remain under the control of their abusers.
Lozano, who served time at the California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, said the support she found among other incarcerated women helped her endure conditions she describes as unsafe and traumatic. She said sexual assault in prison carries an added level of danger because incarcerated people are dependent on staff for daily movement, basic needs and access to grievance procedures.
Her call comes amid continued scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations inside California women’s prisons. In August 2024, a leaked video showed guards at the Chowchilla prison detaining incarcerated women in a cafeteria and repeatedly using pepper spray and tear gas. The incident reportedly followed sexual misconduct grievances filed by incarcerated people and was widely viewed by advocates as retaliation.
Although some guards were fired after the video became public, Lozano said the episode reflected only a small part of a much larger problem. One prison guard was later sentenced to 224 years in prison for multiple sexual assault convictions involving at least nine women. Still, she said, many incarcerated survivors remain in the same institutions where they reported abuse and where they may continue to face retaliation.
Lozano said formal grievance systems do not reliably protect survivors. Instead, she said, reporting sexual abuse by staff often leads to punishment, intimidation or further mistreatment.
California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the safety of people in state custody, Lozano said, and she argued that the state is failing that obligation when it keeps survivors inside facilities where alleged abusers work and where staff salaries are paid with public funds.
Lozano also recounted her own experiences, saying a male guard once put his hands under her shirt and made a remark about warming his hands. She said other officers exposed themselves or touched themselves in front of her over a period of years. In one parole hearing, she said, she had to sit in the same room with a staff member who had abused her.
She said witnessing abuse of other incarcerated people was also traumatizing, particularly because prisoners often have no safe way to intervene.
Advocates have called for broader reforms to how California responds to sexual abuse behind bars. A statewide working group examining prison sexual abuse response and prevention recommended in a 2024 report that the state consider release as a safety measure for survivors assaulted by prison staff.
Lozano said California should revise corrections policy so that a person sexually abused by prison staff can be released from custody rather than forced to remain in an unsafe environment. She also called for prioritizing releases for people held in women’s-designated facilities who continue to face dangerous conditions.
She argued that long prison sentences compound the harm many people experience while incarcerated and make it more difficult to rebuild their lives after release. Survivors who work to heal while enduring harassment or assault in custody, she said, deserve a path home that supports their recovery and allows them to reconnect with their families.
“The only way” to protect incarcerated survivors from further abuse and retaliation, Lozano said, is to allow them to leave the prisons where the abuse occurred.
Original source: CalMatters
