Inmate videos aim to reduce New York prison sexual assaults

FILE - This June 22, 2011 file photo show Sing Sing Correctional Facility overlooking the Hudson river, in Ossining, N.Y. T.J. Parsell, a 54-year-old activist and filmmaker, who as a 17-year-old inmate was raped on his first day behind bars, has just completed videos instructing newcomers to New York state prisons on how to protect themselves from sexual assaults.

Mary Altaffer, File, Associated Press

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FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2012 file photo, inmates walk in a cell block at Coxsackie Correctional Facility in Coxsackie, N.Y. T.J. Parsell, a 54-year-old activist and filmmaker, who as a 17-year-old inmate was raped on his first day behind bars, has just completed videos instructing newcomers to New York state prisons on how to protect themselves from sexual assaults.

Mike Groll, File, Associated Press

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MINEOLA, N.Y. — A former inmate who was raped on his first day behind bars has made videos aimed at preventing others from being sexually assaulted in prison.

T.J. Parsell says he has made two videos for the New York state prison system. He believes they are the first to view the issue from an inmate's perspective, with actual inmates talking about how to prevent such attacks.

The 54-year-old filmmaker says he was raped several decades ago in a Michigan prison while serving a sentence for a holdup.

His videos are the latest effort to stem violence as part of the 2003 federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.

State prison officials and U.S. Justice Department officials are not commenting because the videos have yet to receive final approval.

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