Posted on 06/20/2011 5:05:27 PM PDT by TheDingoAteMyBaby
In 1984 the photographer Tom Cahill smashed a plate-glass door in a fit of fury at the San Francisco Chronicle. He had just unsuccessfully attempted to get the paper’s reporters to write about rape in America’s jails and prisons. Cahill was a desperate man at the time, tormented by flashbacks and nightmares, his personal and professional life in ruins.
Cahill’s story began in 1968, when he was arrested in Texas during a peaceful antiwar protest. An Air Force vet who opposed the Vietnam War, he did not prove popular among jail staff in the heavily military town of San Antonio. Before placing him in an overcrowded communal cell, he says, the guards spread word that he was a child molester. Cahill remembers with a shudder how one of the staff members shouted “fresh meat” before leaving. After 24 hours of beatings and gang rape, his life was shattered.
More than four decades later, sexual violence behind bars is still widespread in the United States. But thanks to Cahill and other courageous survivors, the ongoing crisis is no longer shrouded in silence.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently released its first-ever estimate of the number of inmates who are sexually abused in America each year. According to the department’s data, which are based on nationwide surveys of prison and jail inmates as well as young people in juvenile detention centers, at least 216,600 inmates were victimized in 2008 alone. Contrary to popular belief, most of the perpetrators were not other prisoners but staff members—corrections officials whose job it is to keep inmates safe. On average, each victim was abused between three and five times over the course of the year. The vast majority were too fearful of reprisals to seek help or file a formal complaint.
Sexual violence is not an inevitable part of prison life. On the contrary, it is highly preventable. Corrections officials who are committed to running safe facilities train their staff thoroughly. They make sure that inmates who are especially vulnerable to abuse—such as small, mentally ill, and gay or transgender detainees—are not housed with likely perpetrators. And they hold those who commit sexual assaults accountable, even if they are colleagues.
But many corrections administrators are reluctant to make sexual abuse prevention a top priority, preferring to maintain the status quo rather than acknowledge the role their own employees play. Others are actually fighting reform efforts, claiming, in spite of the evidence, that sexual violence is rare.
This resistance is reflected in the slow implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which Congress unanimously passed in 2003. The law mandated binding national standards to help end sexual abuse in detention. But almost eight years later, the Justice Department has yet to promulgate final standards.
Attorney General Eric Holder has not shown leadership on this issue. In 2009 Holder essentially rejected standards recommended by a bipartisan commission that spent years studying the problem of prisoner rape, claiming that the recommendations—which included limits on cross-gender supervision and the loosening of deadlines for survivors to file formal grievances—would have been too expensive.
It’s easy to feel numbed by the Justice Department’s estimate that almost 600 prisoners are sexually victimized each day. But behind that number are real people like Jan Lastocy. While serving time for attempted embezzlement in a Michigan prison in 1998, Lastocy was raped. Not once, not twice, but several times a week for seven months. The rapist was an officer who supervised her at a prison warehouse. Lastocy was so afraid of him that she did not even dare to tell her husband of 30 years, John, what was going on. Later John said, “Jan did a stupid thing, and she went to prison for it. But no one should have to pay the price that she did.”
Jan and John Lastocy’s lives were devastated by prisoner rape. Holder should listen to and learn from them rather than bowing to corrections officials trying to maintain the status quo.
Lovisa Stannow (lstannow@justdetention.org) is executive director of Just Detention International.
Wow you are really a monster, with absolutely no grasp of the concept of justice.
True, but only once or twice at a time.
You realize that:
1. There are innocent as well as guilty people in jails.
2. Homosexual rape spreads AIDS.
3. Non-violent offenders entering prison won’t be so non-violent coming out after being raped.
The bottom line is that no one deserves to be tortured and terrorized. Most prisoners who are victims are young kids in on drug charges. You may have a stern view of justice, but I don't think the sentence for drug possession should be weekly or daily rapes.
“Contrary to popular belief, most of the perpetrators were not other prisoners but staff members—corrections officials whose job it is to keep inmates safe.”
I don’t buy that most of the rapes were from the guards. Most of the rapes might have been facilitated by the guards, though. I think the prison industry has an interest to keep the recidivism rate high, someone who goes to prison for a minor crime who is treated like a beast might be more likely to act like a beast when released.
Freegards
Too bad you can't spell jeopardy, either.
So, you think it is OK to expose inmates to homosexual rape, AIDS, mental problems from that day on, just because they crossed some goddamn line that no one knew about??? Hey, buddy, maybe next week speeding tickets will get you thrown in pound-your-butt incarceration. Happy with that?
Choose to be outlaws?????
You do not have a freaking clue, do you?
Morons like you are the reason that the jackboots could be just around the corner. You allow horrifying abuses, as long as someone you don't like is the victim... and you're somehow stupid enough to not realize that you're simply next on the list, now that you've opened the door for this kind of abuse.
Did they or did they not choose to be outlaws? Simple question.
Your passion would be admiral if it were directed at protecting the innocent first.
First, conservatives have broken no laws therefore the felon analogy does not fit.
Second, I never said that any authority has the right to abuse those under that authority. What I said was all issues cannot be corrected all at once. Therefore one must prioritize. Seems to me protecting the innocent, unborn humans, should be at the top of any moral and caring persons list.
Third, the fact is 99.9% of people in prison chose to commit a crime, were tried and convicted. They had a choice and chose poorly. Policies, rules and laws are made to protect or otherwise promote the norm. They aren’t and cannot be so perfect that some infinitesimally small percent of the population is wronged.
As for drug abusers: First, people caught possessing drugs and drug paraphenalia—not selling or otherwise distributing—generally are given multiple rehab opportunities before the ever see the inside of a jail. Experience has shown that most of them are not rehabbed. Experience has also shown that users require increasing amounts of drugs to satisfy their cravings. Most drug abusers are not well off financially. Therefore, they ultimately resort to theft and violence to satisfy their habit. Second, Illegal drug makers and sellers are breaking the law. Therefore, they are criminals. Third, doing drugs is a choice that has long term negative effects on individuals and societies. I cannot and will not expend an ounce of energy on these people. I tried to be involved with two people in the past. Waste of time. What really ticked me off was that I had to sleep with my firearm handy until my brother-in-laws son was finally imprisoned. So don’t try to make the argument with me that drugs is somehow a victimless crime.
Many of the prisoners have NOT even gone to trial.
You are cool with State sponsored crime but want to punish citizens harshly.
You are defending an indefensible idea. If you want an anti abortion thread, find an article that interests you and post it. Stay off this one. Abortion is wrong. State sponsored prison rape? Good lord.
“conservatives have broken no laws “
Really? Conservatives/Christians have never been jailed for homeschooling, spanking their children, picketing an abortion clinic, or street preaching?
considering another thread here on FR posted about the 20% of rape convictions which where disproven after modern DNA tests, it is very difficult to be indifferent. (per innocence project which seeks to have old cases with DNA evidence reexamined.)
it does not take much to have some liberal judge declare this issue to be cruel and unusual punishment and then realease all of them into your neighborhood.
Let’s try this again. I said being conservative breaks no law. Is this true or not? Simple question. Only requires a yes or no answer.
Do some who call themselves conservative break the law? Regretably but certainly.
I’m delighted DNA science has progressed to where it can be used to clear innocent people—and it should be. However, keep in mind it is not a perfect science. Some of the guilty will go free based on DNA evidence.
I’m also suspicious of the alledged 20% of those convicted of rape actually being innocent. I would like to know precisely how that 20% number was produced.
That said, I wonder what % of the convicted felon population is represented by rapists. I suspect it’s a relatively small percent. So we get back to the very real issue of priortizing what we expend our emotions and money on.
It should also be pointed out that there are private entities already championing the wrongly convicted cause. It should be pointed out, too, that the government has not eased or eliminated even one societal failing. It has exacerbated every problem it has tried to address.
full stop
it only states that the dna on/in the woman (or victim) was not that of the convicted person. That is enough to kick out the conviction.
it only states that the dna on/in the woman (or victim) was not that of the convicted person. That is enough to kick out the conviction.
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