Posted on 06/10/2003 8:39:44 AM PDT by philosofy123
No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons
By ALEX COOLMAN
In April of 2001, Human Rights Watch released a report called No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prison. The report, written by human rights lawyer (and CounterPunch contributor) Joanne Mariner, contains dozens of first-hand accounts of prisoner rape and sexual assault, stories that are both horrifying and sobering.
Some of the most frightening passages in the book, though, are not in the main body of the text. They're in the appendix, which features letters that state corrections departments coughed up after Human Rights Watch requested information about sexual assault behind bars.
In the appendix, the reader learns what these corrections departments, despite countless stories of human suffering to the contrary, are still saying about sexual assault.
From the Kentucky Department of Corrections: "These instances are very rare, (but) ... we do not maintain a central list of the disposition of these cases."
From the Alaska Department of Corrections: "We, luckily, have no need to keep statistics, as this has not been a problem."
From the Connecticut Department of Corrections: "Our department does not maintain statistics regarding inmate on inmate rape or sexual abuse primarily because it is seldom reported ...."
In state after state, the officials running the prisons disavow any knowledge of a problem that, according to the best research on the subject, affects as many as one in five male prisoners.
For that reason, and many others, No Escape is a wrenching book to read. It's also one of the most in-depth, authoritative, and comprehensive books written on the subject of prisoner rape. The book provides a review of the conditions that contribute to prisoner rape--including the growth of the American prison population in the last 20 years, the privatization of the prison industry, and the crippling of prisoners' legal rights through the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996.
No Escape also reviews some of the realities of prisoner rape that are misunderstood by the public: that victims tend to be nonviolent offenders, young people, and first-timers; that victims are sometimes subjected to repeated abuse that can last for years; and that rape victims contract diseases like HIV and often suffer from crippling depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
All of these facts are brought to life in No Escape through the inclusion of prisoners' first-hand accounts of rape. Human Rights Watch quotes men like B.J. from Connecticut (that peaceful state where rape is "seldom reported," according to the DOC) who describes being assaulted after he was celled with a known rapist.
"I remained in shock and paralyzed in thought for two days until I was able to muster the courage to report it, this the most dreadful and horrifying experience of my life," B.J. writes.
Then there are prisoners like M.P. from Arkansas, who describes submitting to life as a sexual slave for another prisoner, and S.H., from Texas, who was rented out for sexual favors. S.H. filed five grievances, eight appeals and a federal lawsuit in an attempt to get some relief for his situation. He was denied any remedy, every step of the way.
That institutional indifference to the problem of sexual assault behind bars is documented in No Escape's final chapter, where Mariner notes that "rape occurs in U.S. prisons because corrections officials, to a surprising extent, do little to stop it from occurring."
Even simple steps that could reduce the likelihood of sexual assault--such as realistic prisoner orientation programs and careful classification of prisoners by risk of victimization--are relatively uncommon, Human Rights Watch reports. Prisoners' complaints of rape are not taken seriously and avenues of legal redress are typically blocked.
"Rape is not an inevitable consequence of prison life, but it certainly is a predictable one if little is done to prevent it and punish it," Mariner concludes.
The two years since No Escape was published have seen a major surge of advocacy to address sexual assault behind bars. No Escape was covered on the front page of the New York Times, introducing many members of the public to a reality they had never considered. Since then, publications such as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, and The Weekly Standard have also prominently covered the issue.
No Escape has served as a powerful resource for Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR), the only national organization solely devoted to ending sexual violence behind bars. Stop Prisoner Rape had been around for more than 20 years before No Escape, but the book's authoritative documentation of the problem has proved to be a critical tool in SPR's arsenal.
Since the publication of No Escape, SPR and Human Rights Watch have worked together (along with others) to launch a listserv, sponsor a national conference, and lobby for the first-ever federal legislation to address rape in prison, known as the Prison Rape Reduction Act. In fact, No Escape was cited during Congressional hearings on the bill. The legislation, which is still pending, would authorize a study to document the extent of the problem; and create a program of standards and incentives to help corrections officials detect and prevent prisoner rape.
For men and women behind bars, rape remains a real threat. SPR continues to hear from prisoners every day who are being victimized--prisoners who still face the kinds of brutality documented in No Escape. SPR now offers survivors of sexual assault a range of information and referrals, the chance to post stories on its heavily trafficked website, and the opportunity to speak out through contacts with reporters and researchers.
That's a powerful legacy for a single book, but No Escape tells a powerful story. It's one we all need to understand.
What's an 'open fist'? Do you mean a palm strike?
The fellow who dragged the Black man behind his truck to death (remember the shameless racist NACCP ad on this) in Texas was a recent releasee who had been 'punked' repeatedly by Black gangs in prison. Now you can understand the rage that led to the killing. We are creating a whole series of these ticking time bombs with our current prison system.
And get rid of the TVs and rec rooms and the weight rooms.
What I failed to say is the trick is to not allow people in the system to not turn you into an animal or do life on the 401k plan .
Yes I remember that Texas case & frankly I dont care what happened to this person on the inside . What he did is no excuse . The proper thing to have done was to deal with it then . Lets remember the fact that the mans behaviour put him in prison as did mine .
I've done no harm to anyone because the AB , Red & White SF chapter , and the Norte's along with the Crips and I had a few meetings . On a side note I want you to know that I do not celebrate victimhood .
Bill Lockyer, to be a "professional" by any means. And he has his sights set on being the next Governor.
He is term-limited, thank God, for Atty. Gen. I think a good campaign consultant can make an effective anti-Lockyer commercial with the video clip. "As Attorney General, Bill Lockyer supported rape in prison. (insert audio/video clip) As Governor, will he be inclined to fight other violent crimes?" You get the picture.
One of the big problems with our prison system is that no one knows what it's really there for.
Is it meant to punish someone for their crime...they do their time and then are restored to society (this to me would be the ideal, along with restitution to the victim(s))?
Is it meant to reform and change and train the convict?
Is it meant to simply remove the convict from society forever?
It seems that what makes it even harder for those who have done their time (i.e., payed their debt to society) to become useful citizens when so many people will not let them forget. When they can't get a decent job because they're branded as a con.
We live in a time where anyone of us could end up in jail or prison. Are you driving without a seatbelt on? You've broken the law. Are you going 5 miles over the speed limit? You've broken the law. Did you 'not look right' to a passing cop? You can be stopped, harrassed, and even arrested if you protest the treatment.
In the past 10 months, I've seen a good man falsely accused of molesting a woman in his medical care (he has been in this medical field for over 20 years without one complaint against him, and has NEVER been in trouble with the law, that includes no driving infractions). He has lost his job (and career), lost the house he and his wife were in the process of purchasing, been on the verge of filing bankruptcy and as of yesterday, facing a jail term of up to 11 months because of a 'plea bargain deal' that was offered to him and that his lawyer pushed him to accept because in all honesty, his lawyer has already been paid and has better things to do than to go through a trial that he might lose ( and tarnish his lawyerly reputation). The court wins because it saves money, the prosecutor wins because he gets a conviction, the lawyer wins because on paper it looks like he got his client a good deal,and the accuser wins because the door is now open for her to sue the hospital (which many of us believe has been her sole purpose...she's on welfare and has been a gov't medical parasite all her adult life). The only one who loses is the innocent one. But who cares, as long as those in power are happy.
I've also seen my supervisor (a retired Marine Corp Sgt), pulled over by, no kidding, 5 police cruisers in one of our suburbs because he and his 17 year old son were helping his former mother-in-law move her furniture from her condo, and he 'looked suspicious' to one of her elderly neighbors (who had seen him and his van at this condo before, but 'forgot' who he was). He and his son were ordered out of the van AT GUN POINT and he was slammed up against it and searched and then cuffed and thrown in the back of a cruiser as the cops refused to answer any of his questions and just kept telling him to shut up. When they finally realized that they he was telling them the truth, they uncuffed him, handed back his ID and sent him on his way. He has contacted the PD to complain and they refuse to even acknowledge what happened to him.
I am not a soft on crime person. My oldest cousin was murdered at 19 and his convicted murderer walked after only 5 months of jail time. The system just seems to be so broken and so devoid of real justice, that it appears to be hopeless.
Unless we return to a biblically based right and wrong, we are doomed as a society.
That would be near impossible, and not cost effective. The inmates do all the work, such as food preparation, trash disposal, industries, like lens lab, book bindery, metal fab, pre cast concrete. It is expensive now, but that might bankrupt the states.
Well that depends on whether you are pervert who would like to be rewarded with this kind of environment.
You see, the constitution and the rule of law really does make more sense than people like you.
Funny that it is a pipe dream when it is the only logical thing to do.
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