US prisoners abused - report

London - Women prisoners in the United States are subjected to serious sexual abuse, including rape and being sold as "sex slaves…

London - Women prisoners in the United States are subjected to serious sexual abuse, including rape and being sold as "sex slaves" to male inmates, Amnesty International said yesterday.

In a wide-ranging report, the human rights organisation said male guards often supervised naked women prisoners and searched them in ways involving contact with their breasts and genitalia.

The underlying causes of the problem were the large number of male guards in American women's prisons and their unrestricted access to women's cells, Amnesty said.