New research inside Estrella Jail is putting numbers to what many incarcerated women have long described: lives shaped by violence, homelessness, addiction and sex trafficking before they ever arrived behind bars.
A second survey of 289 women, conducted this summer by Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, found nearly 79% reported experiencing domestic violence as adults. More than 76% had experienced homelessness, and 64% reported drug addiction. Of the 230 women who answered questions about sex trafficking, nearly 61% said they had been trafficked.
The two surveys are the first of their kind in the county…