WHO PAYS FOR JAIL RAPE? Under ?qualified immunity,? often no one.

A federal appeals court issued a ruling earlier this month in a Texas case that helps explainwhy so many prison or jail inmates are sexually assaulted by their guards and why so little is doneabout it. It’s not just lax training and oversight within facilities. It’s not justpoor recruitment practices. It’s also layer upon layer of nearly insurmountable legalstandards crafted over time by judges and legislators to protect corrections officers, theirsupervisors, and, ultimately, local budgets.

Consider the case of Ezmerelda Rivera. In December 2014 she and her husband were arrested forpublic