A groundbreaking survey inside Estrella Jail found that roughly half of the women locked up there say they have been sex trafficked. The confidential questionnaire, completed by 408 incarcerated women, represents about half of the jail’s female population and also surfaced extremely high rates of sexual assault and domestic violence. County officials and university partners say the findings are already reshaping the kinds of trauma-informed programs that will roll out this spring. Advocates argue the data underline a hard truth: many women hit the criminal-justice system as victims first, not as offenders.
What the survey found
Run jointly by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention…..