The topic of jails in general, and jail assaults in particular,
is one of the more underdeveloped research topics in the field
of criminal justice. Even those studies that purport to examine
assaults in correctional settings typically use samples of
prisoners (not jail inmates) and typically focus on either
inmate-to-staff assault or sexual assault among inmates. As
such, the research surrounding jail assaults is quite limited.
For example, a detailed examination of the literature on jail
assaults provides neither a solid estimate of the prevalence,
incidence, or types of assaults that occur in jails. In other
words, despite the widely accepted belief that assaults are
common in jails (particularly inmate-to-inmate assaults), the
scholarly literature offers no suggestions regarding what
percentage of jails have assaults each year, what types of
assaults occur in those jails that do have assaults, and how
many of those assaults occur.  Most studies of inmate assaults
in correctional settings have been limited