It's Time to End the Epidemic of Prisoner Rape

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/05/05/time-epidemic-prisoner-rape


When Bryson Martel was sentenced to six years in prison for check fraud, he was 28 years old, weighed 123 pounds, and was scared to death. He had good reason to be afraid. Within weeks of his arrival, he was beaten and raped at knifepoint. Martel reported the assault to staff, who moved him to “protective custody” – into a cell with a known rapist.

Days later, he was raped again.

Prison authorities should have taken particular care to protect Martel’s safety, knowing that he was a target for abuse. They didn’t, and the assaults continued. Over the course of nine months, Martel estimates he was raped by 27 different people. Ultimately, he was infected with HIV, and now has full-blown AIDS.

-snip-

No matter where it occurs, sexual violence shatters lives. Unlike rape survivors in the community, however, survivors behind bars often have no choice but to suffer in silence. Prison mental health counselors rarely have expertise in sexual assault, and they cannot provide confidential services. Because of the danger of being labeled a “snitch,” fear of retaliation, and lack of trust in corrections officials, most incarcerated survivors are too afraid to report an assault and so avoid the limited counseling available from prison staff. This, in turn, leads to long-term emotional trauma and untreated medical conditions.

Women behind bars, who may become pregnant from rapes committed by male staff, lack access to the full range of reproductive health options. Many victimized inmates are infected with HIV and other STDs, which are far more prevalent among prisoners than in the community at large. Yet corrections facilities often fail to provide proper screening and treatment for STDs. In short, sexual violence behind bars is a public health and a human rights crisis.

-snip-

The Constitution bars corrections agencies from inflicting cruel and unusual punishment, and the Supreme Court has recognized that prisoner rape may amount to such a constitutional violation. In addition, rape and sexual abuse is illegal throughout the country. Nevertheless, prisoners and advocates face tremendous barriers when seeking to hold officials accountable for failing to protect inmates. For example, federal law requires inmates who have been sexually assaulted while incarcerated to navigate the full internal grievance process at their facility before going to court – no matter how complicated, unrealistic, or illogical that process may be. Any misstep and a judge must dismiss the lawsuit. The courts play a meaningful role in holding public institutions accountable for civil rights violations – absent this oversight, impunity reigns and prisoner rape flourishes.

-snip-

The Prison Rape Elimination Act gave the Attorney General one year from the release of the standards to review and codify them as federal regulations, making them binding on all detention facilities in the country. But after well over nine months, it is clear that Attorney General Eric Holder will not make the deadline of June 23, 2010. It may be another year – or more – before Holder releases the final guidelines. In that time, thousands and thousands more adults and children will be raped behind bars.

Some corrections leaders are happy to delay the implementation of the standards. Alarmingly, leading corrections associations are challenging key provisions, including requirements that cross-gender supervision be limited in areas where inmates are nude and that all facilities undergo regular external audits. Such measures – already in place in the rest of the developed world – could dramatically lower the levels of prisoner rape in the United States. According to opponents, however, they are too costly.

-snip-

In an important step forward, the Department of Justice opened a public comment period on March 10, 2010. The Department is seeking input on the standards generally, and has posed three specific questions regarding the terminology, the costs of implementation, and compliance requirements. If history is any guide, corrections officials and their lobbyists will weigh in en masse, opposing the standards. During the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission's public comment period in 2008, on a draft version of the standards, more than 100 corrections departments and associations submitted comments.

-snip-

The effort to end prisoner rape is at a watershed moment. Sexual abuse behind bars is a serious human rights violation and an affront to our society’s most basic values. With the power to stop this abuse, there is no excuse for dawdling. It’s time for Attorney General Holder and President Obama to demonstrate their commitment to ending this shocking violence by codifying the national standards.
-----------------------------------

wake up Obama! get a move on this. rape needs to stop! we are supposed to be a civilized country.

as for doing something about it, past time.

to say how disgusted i am that anyone is trapped in this environment, or how wrong it is, just is not enough.

yes, it is long past time to do something about it.

pure evil would be an apt description of those involved in this man's demise.

it's an extra punishment for criminals. And so often it is treated like a joke.

of any given set of circumstances.

ETA: Rape is NEVER an appropriate or just response, however grave the accusation or actual circumstances. Full stop.

:thumbsup:

It's time for EVERYBODY to stop implying that prison rape is an appropriate consequence for something...

But I'm sure you meant that... :D

I sentence you to be raped and beaten for the next ten years at the Texas Department of Corrections. She was a crazy old witch with bats in her belfry and a chip on her shoulder.

the lives and money we waste are shameful. Both could be put to better use.

That means about half are not.

We have the world's largest prison population, both in raw numbers and per capita. Our over-reliance on imprisonment is a direct contributor to the problem of prison rape.

Prison should be reserved for those we're afraid of, not those we're mad at.

Do you have a solution or just snark?

to end the "prison state" altogether.

That means turn the violent offenders loose, and they have to go SOMEWHERE.

Are you willing to house a few of them?

They go back into society. Being raped in prison probably won't help with their rehabilitation.

The "prison state" could refer to our overreliance on incarceration.

Some people are too dangerous to be let free; the vast majority are not, and a very healthy percentage of prisoners probably don't need to be behind bars at all.

And "violent offenders" can be anyone from a serial killer to a guy who got into a bar fight.

If an ex-con can pay the rent, yeah, I'll house him.

Guess I'm a bad person.

Most people sentenced to prison eventually got out. Not serial killers. Some murderers, however, do eventually serve their sentences and get out, too. Not that you're a bad person; it's just that our criminal justice system is too soft for your taste. Try Iran or North Korea, maybe.

'end all prisons'. The prison industry, for-profit prisons, the war on drugs as social control all contribute to making the US a "prison state" which holds more prisoners than any other nation in the world - including China which has nearly 5x our population. We are a corporate prison state, and billions are made in the maintaining of it.

And those violent offenders? The majority of them are themselves products of the system - people put in prison for non-violent crimes such as drugs, petty theft, car theft and, yes, check kiting who have to join up with violent gangs for protection. They learn to be violent in prison. The overwhelming number of those imprisoned for first offenses are NOT violent, and the degree of violence increases with any subsequent imprisonments.

The prison system itself is responsible for a huge part of the crime rate in America.

be imprisoned and operating a prison state. A prison state finds reasons to lock people up when they do not need to be locked up--for example, locking up those caught with a small amount of marijuana for personal use, or those picked up by the cops for nonviolent protest, even though such protest is their guaranteed right in the US Constitution.

Do you practice at being an asshole, or does it come naturally?

It doesn't mean no one's held accountable ...although at this point, that is pretty much applicable to america's wealthiest and well connected

I think so.

We are a police state - a prison state. We are no longer the US of A, we are the US of Prisons.

We should all be ashamed.

The poster was not very specific about what that means. I was just asking a question.

And I'm not ashamed of a goddamned thing, by the way.

The prison state is not the same as imprisonment. The term "prison state" means something. It has had that meaning for a very long time, referring to societies that incarcerate large portions of their population and for reasons that are not just. Societies like Korea and Soviet Russia (remember the Gulags?) are prison states.

There is also a difference between lightning and lightning bugs. If someone says he is terrified of lightning because he was almost killed by it, would you snark back, "Ooooohhhh, you're scared of lightning bugs because you were almost killed by them"?

now care to clue us in on the willful misunderstanding?:shrug:

...as a matter of fact they are merely given even more power to create more violence because they are rich and their bloody hands are kept clean by hiring their goons to do their dirty work for them. Yet most citizen feel perfectly safe to walk the streets with these criminals not only in their midst, but running their country, no matter how appalled they are at these people's activities.

Look it is time to admit our prison system is a sham and a reason to enslave people for little or no reason ~ even accusing the innocent of murder where many have been exonerated because of their sham trials thanks to DNA and justice projects who are releasing many innocents from death row because of those sham trials. There are plenty of murderers, rapists and drug traffickers right in our own midst, free and clear of the law because they have the money to defend themselves. Nobody seems too concerned about them and how they continue to operate with impudence. In order to afford "justice" to be served, if you can afford the endless court proceedings, the expensive consultants and psychiatry, the needless paperwork and the costs behind it, you have a much better chance, even if you are guilty.

If you are poor as most of these prisoners are, innocent or guilty will be subjected to a harsh and corrupt prison system that has little incentive to release anyone because we are to serve them as slave labor in their businesses who profit from the prisoners who do free work for them.

It is time to face the fact that most, if not all of our courts are corrupt.

If you REALLY want to see corruption, look at Family Court which is the biggest sham in this country. They are operating on and profiting from pure hysteria with billions pumped into it every time anyone yells "sex offender" or "child abuser" and points the finger making the accused instantly "guilty until proven innocent". Where the accused have no rights even to a lawyer and where they "get" to remain on child abuse registrations for the rest of their lives merely on a social workers' say with no way to defend themselves, with no accountability for the agencies and their personnel involved who stand to profit handsomely by the taking and selling of kids. Where the judge, social workers, consultants, even the few "defense" lawyers are all paid out of the same money and regularly work hand-in-hand with each other with no questions about the ethics violations to hurt the family involved. See, none of them get any money if a family is preserved, not a red cent, but they get millions for destroying families according to Title IV and TANF funding.

I am not in favor of releasing any serial criminal into society, but hysteria rules when it is coupled with fear, murderers are less than 2% of the prison population. I am in favor or rehabilitation and the possibility that serial criminality is a form of mental illness and should be viewed as that in order to keep the person away from the general population or treat them if there is a possibility of rehabilitation. To get all afraid of the violent offender is not looking at the real situation here when lots of real violent people are walking the street right past you this very day because they had the money to defend themselves ~ and/or quiet their victims into silence

The prison system is (I believe intentionally) creating serial criminals and profiting from it, there is no rehabilitation or protection for the people they have custody of who they are responsible to care for ~ in essence they have "custody" of that person much as a parent has "custody" of their child, it is the same legally. With that custody should come some responsibility and accountability if the person they "own" is harmed. It is their job to see to it their charges are kept safe and given full legal protection but they have few reasons to do so when they are given legal slave labor to line their pockets.

My 2 cents,

Cat In Seattle

and your 2 cents are well worth more than that.

A lot of what you said gets me riled up too but what makes it so evident that our whole justice system and prison system needs changing is the fact that folks who are commiting some of the most heinous crimes are running this coutry and the poor are the people who pay for it all. Jacked a car when you were a teenager/young adult? Your going to prison. Swindled thousands of people out of their livelihoods by playing the stock market and/or some scheme?? Meh - you'll problably get off. Especially if you contribute to your friendly politicians campaigns. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

who depend on the prison industrial complex to support their families? We built it, so we are responsible for developing a workable and rational plan for disassembling it. There's gotta be a plan of action in place for the release of those prisoners--many of whom I believe are there for crimes associated with our failure as a society to educate and support--and the unemployment of all those workers who've built their careers on the PIC. None, in my opinion, prisoner or worker, should just be cast to the wind.

put more investment into our children so fewer will end up in the Criminal Justice System.

That alone should be sufficient reason to stop running prisons the way they're run.

As long as so many citizens in America have the belief that prison rape is what prisoners deserve, this will continue. It's shocking that on a progressive site ANYONE speaks approvingly of prison rape.

I asked is he'd cooked dinner, cleaned the cell, etc. He looked at me oddly and said "no, he was MADE his WIFE". I commiserated with the awfulness and inappropriateness of being raped, and asked if this was truly behavior he expected a wife to expect. Sputter, sputter, sputter.

Rape isn't funny and is not deserved and I alert on posts that indicate otherwise.

to house people who don't play by the rules.

The political will to pay for a different system is just not there.

That is always overcrowded, mix hard inmates with young ones, and expect different results, but to many people, the rape is the punishment, after all, otherwise, these guys would be getting "three hots and a cot" , and iof course, feeding anyone with taxpayer funds is a crime, you betcha (sarcasm)

what, specifically, do you want Obama to do?

Sid

That will reduce the prison population by over a third. That's a nice big number. Next, he, and we must realize prison is a place for dangerous people, not merely disruptive ones... That will release most of the other non violent offenders after the drug cases are dismissed. Next, decide whether sociopathy and other psychosis are crimes, or a disease, and reopen the sanitariums that were closed down during the 80s if necessary. But try to run them a bit more humanely this time.

HTH

In fact, you will see people here on DU who express delight in the possible prison rape of particularly nasty people. It is our own form of hell on earth. Sadly, we take delight in imagining criminals being raped or sexually assaulted by other inmates.

It is often been said but once you are in prison your well being is ignored.

I'm afraid that no meaningful prison reform will ever happen. Deep down, humans are twisted. Most of us.

Something to bring down the level of aggression.

not to mention the staff aggression, you going to force staff to take it, too?

And what about wrongful convictions? Are ya just gonna excuse the chemical castration of those folks with an apologetic "Oops"?

~

~

I wonder what people's attitudes toward prison rape would be if religious concepts of morality were completely removed from the equation and replaced by ethics? I bet we'd have many fewer people in prison. The "worst of the worst" constitute a very small part of the prison population, but the call for an "eye for an eye" is quite strong, even in progressive communities.

I imagine that for the most part, it's little more than a visceral reaction containing few, if any consequences. I would imagine that if pressed, the majority of DU'ers who "cheer this sort of thing" would eventually admit to a more progressive form of rehabilitation.

... as a general indifference. I've got X amount of rage and righteous fury to dole out among my various causes and peeves. Just can't seem to spare any for criminals... Fresh out I suppose.

you are angry and yet you know there is probably not much you can do about it.However my first reaction when I hear of this taking place in my country ,the country claiming to be the most compassionate,free and civil rights for all,my first fellings are of being ashamed,and being confused at the phony claim of ours being the best country in the world .Is it not give us your poor you sick and hungry . Are we not suppose to try and rehibilitate those who do not fit into society ? Instead apprently B/4 we even have a chance to help these people who have mental health issuses (I know many are violent and must be locked up). However the ones that cant be helped are first given a dose of hate by assult and rape ,we have prison guards that should protect all prisoners from this kind of thing ,however it appears they turn thier heads.Even our police take joy that they can tell a newly arrested person exactly whats going to happen to them in jail ! The more I learn about our crime and punishment and other things having to do how a capilist society is so heartless the more I wish my ansestors would have stood in Italy ,where perhaps I would be living in a small village living a much more simple life !
IMHO
NicRic

They'll say "I don't want it to happen, but if it does, oh well."

They're sadists, every last one of them, and little better than the offenders they wish rape upon. Disgusting pigs.

They're also in violation of DU policy and should be alerted on.

Otherwise, prison rape is not funny.

They never have anything in particular to say in response.

How long will it be before prison rape is ruled 'cruel and unusual punishment?'

When you lock somebody up, you have a duty to protect that person from anything but their lawfully given sentence.

But our government isn't supposed to be meting it out.

I am very embarrassed to admit that I used to participate in this kind of "humor". But since I was educated in what a horrible problem prison rape really is jokes like this just make me cringe. It doesn't help when late night comedians joke about it and it doesn't help when people like the Attorney General of California (Bill Lockyer) say things like "I would love to personally escort Lay to an 8 x 10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, Hi, my name is Spike, honey".

(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lockyer).

I want criminals to serve their time. I don't want them to be raped.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I would find shit like this..

(I have to admit, there were some reasonable and informed comments, but these are more fun.)

"If you don’t want to give it up, don’t do the crime."

"Gonna say if you ain't lookin' for lovin' from Bubba, don't do the crime..... "

"Seems homos are the more likely to go to prison as there seems to be loads of prison rape.
Straight men don’t rape other men. Homosexuality is a mental illness."

"Don’t care."

"The only way to prevent prisoner on prisoner rape is to put Chasity belts on them.... or build them little individual houses with showers, a bathroom, and nice kitchenette, and their own personal exercise yard." (Yes, the moran wrote "Chasity")

"filthy disease ridden queers at it again!!!!!"

" If you sodomize a man you are a homo by definition. You cannoy possibly be straight.
If you have sex with other men you are a homo, no matter the reason."

Then just watch how fast it gets cleaned up.

I've had little success in convincing people of this, however.

The violent thugs need to be separated out from the non-violent prisoners. Why don't prisons do that?

There's plenty of minimum or medium-security prisons out there that usually see less dangerous (or better-lawyered) cases, though there's also plenty of places without those options, or where they're already full, etc.

Ideally the two'd be kept pretty seperate. (Ideally there'd probably be half as many people in the system overall, too, but that's a whole other rant.)

One part of the problem is that America hasn't yet really decided whether prison is supposed to be punitive or correctional. If it's to be correctional, there has to be an effort to treat psychological problems many of the prisoners face and to train many of the prisoners so they have the skills needed to get a decent job when they're released.

Universal healthcare would help with the first of those issues. The second is more problematic, in that it requires a reasonable living wage be paid without a consequent hike in the cost of basic living expenses. Basically, try to address the question as to why many turn to crime in the first place. That seems unlikely to happen within our lifetimes. Of course, it would be incredibly easy to accomplish if the military budget was reduced by half. Do that, and eliminate the Bush tax cuts and we'd have funds to invest.

Throwing a bunch of guys together with nothing to do but lift weights or read the occasional book does not leave much room for imagination or potential.

From a different perspective, it would also help if we stopped incarcerating kids for carrying dime bags of dope or other seemingly victimless crimes*. Reduce the incarceration rate by reducing trivial crimes to misdemeanors, focus concentrated efforts on socializing and training those who remain,, permanently lock up those who cannot be changed, and insure that every trained individual has the qualifications to obtain a decent job upon release.

*-when drugs and prostitution are illegal, these are not, in my mind, victimless crimes. The people who produce or provide the "product" are, by definition, criminal, and are forced to collude with criminal elements to market their product.

I am well aware of the problem and also PREA, the Prison Rape elimination Act. This initiative has been center stage for about 2-3 years and I can tell you that it is taken seriously by those of us that work with offenders. This act requires follow up on any alleged assault including referring to law enforcement immediately. This is an important change as it is starting to change the culture in prisons among staff that whatever happens to inmates they deserve. I has always amazed me that behavior that can get somebody locked up in prison on the street is tolerated and somewhat expected in prison. Drug sales, battery and sexual assault have been given a pass in the prisons until recently. If you want that behavior in the prisons to stop it has to bee aggressively prosecuted as it would be on the street. It is true that most inmates will be released at some point and the goal is to have them hit the streets in better stead than when they went in. That being said the safety of our prisons varies wildly from state to state. The public sentiment has been lock them up for as long as possible, but do not raise my taxes to do it.

Most Southern states have terrible records as far as inmate safety goes. There are very few that staff prisons adequately. I have been in corrections for 24 years and my opinion is that only Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin put enough staff on site to make the prisons somewhat safe for the inmates. I do not have first hand knowledge of all states but over the years the offenders that I have supervised do, and they have told me that if you have to go to prison those three states are the safest for the inmates.

I remember these radio spots from the state of Connecticut a while back. It was a campaign to stop I think statutory rape of teen girls.

They gladly informed the public that child molesters were pretty low on the prison totem pole and were more likely to get raped in prison. So if you want to have sex with a 16 year old, the possible consequence could be getting raped in prison.

Talk about state sponsored cruel and unusual punishment! Makes you wonder if the prison rapists got rewarded in prison when they rape fellow prisoners that "really deserve it"?

Barbaric! And pretty un-Christian, I would think!

-90% jimmy

once he's been woken up, of course.

Sid

the corporate press is right wing slap-happy about putting people in prison --

we hear very little of the profit motives, as well.

But we are also releasing something short of a half million prisoners are year who

have served their sentences -- and they return to our communities.

Will they return in poor physical and mental health -- stressed and anguished by repeated

rapes in our prisons -- infected with STD/HIV -- or are we going to return to the liberal

notion of detain and reform?

It's insane not to --

This is simply another way that the right wing has brutalized our system of justice,

returned to cruel and inhumane imprisonment. Ironically, it was Alger Hiss, one of the

Nixon/McCarthy Era victims who had worked for New Deal reform of prisons and who himself

served 44 months in prison thanks to Nixon's work.

For those who aren't aware, there is also evidence now that Jack Ruby was working for

Nixon at that time.

When my son went to prison, THIS was my greatest fear. I have joined the facebook organization, "Just Detention International". Please join us.
It's even worse, somehow, knowing people are in prison for non-violent drug crimes. I know it shouldn't make any difference, that NO ONE deserves to be raped, but the injustice of imprisoning drug addicts adds to the injury.

We are the most imprisoned nation on the planet thanks to our draconian and cruel drug laws. I feel the most dangerous aspect of recreational drug use is encountering our criminal justice system as a result. There is no drug out there that ruins as many lives as our middle ages unenlightened barbaric drug laws!

What is so terrible about so many of our lives that we turn to drugs to escape it? I would say the current distribution of wealth in our society has a lot to do with it.

-90% Jimmy

Have mercy on the criminal for you may be the next to suffer at the hands of the man.

but I'm glad that someone is pointing out this horrid longstanding epidemic... And gratified to see so many other DUers who are angered to have seen it as something to be joked about or even celebrated at times. I have tried to speak up in threads where I've seen that happen , even to the point of being chided for caring too much about the perpetrator of a particularly heinous crime. All I can say is that if someone else can be raped in prison with impunity, then so can you.