Study finds that a high rate of sex offenders are killed in California prisons

In California, prisoners are killed at a rate double the national average, with sex offenders accounting for an inordinate number of victims.

After analyzing corrections records, The Associated Press discovered that male sex offenders make up roughly 15 percent of the prison population, but accounted for almost 30 percent of prisoner homicide victims in 2007. From 2001 to 2012, 162 prisoners were killed in California, or eight per 100,000. That rate was double the national average and much higher than other states like New York and Texas.

Experts say that although special housing units were created more than a decade ago to protect certain inmates including sex offenders, they are targets of prison gangs because of their crimes, and should be separated into their own facilities. Overcrowding also adds to the problem, James Austin, president of the consulting firm JFA Institute, told AP. "Until the state gets its prison population below 100 percent of capacity, you're going to have this," he said.

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