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In more than a third of cases where a member of prison staff abused a youngster, force was used or threatened, the survey showed.
Boys, who make up the majority of young prison inmates in the United States, were more likely than girls to report unwanted sexual activity with a member of prison staff: 10.8 percent of the boys surveyed said they had been sexually abused by prison staff compared with less than five percent of girls.
But in terms of unwanted sexual activity with other youth, the complainants were reversed, with just over nine percent of girls and two percent of boys saying they had been sexually abused by other youth.
Youth with "a sexual orientation other than heterosexual" reported significantly higher rates of sexual victimization by another youth -- 12.5 percent -- compared to heterosexual youth (1.3 percent).
Nearly 9,200 young inmates in 195 large state or privately-owned prisons were interviewed for the survey between June 2008 and April last year.
The youngest of the inmates was 12, the oldest 24, and only a third of the young convicts were older than 18, a statistician at the Department of Justice told AFP.
Some 26,550 youngsters are incarcerated in large state or privately run prisons across the United States, according to the report.
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Boys, who make up the majority of young prison inmates in the United States, were more likely than girls to report unwanted sexual activity with a member of prison staff: 10.8 percent of the boys surveyed said they had been sexually abused by prison staff compared with less than five percent of girls.
But in terms of unwanted sexual activity with other youth, the complainants were reversed, with just over nine percent of girls and two percent of boys saying they had been sexually abused by other youth.
Youth with "a sexual orientation other than heterosexual" reported significantly higher rates of sexual victimization by another youth -- 12.5 percent -- compared to heterosexual youth (1.3 percent).
Nearly 9,200 young inmates in 195 large state or privately-owned prisons were interviewed for the survey between June 2008 and April last year.
The youngest of the inmates was 12, the oldest 24, and only a third of the young convicts were older than 18, a statistician at the Department of Justice told AFP.
Some 26,550 youngsters are incarcerated in large state or privately run prisons across the United States, according to the report.
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