YOU THINK PRISON RAPE IS FUNNY? Read this then.

[alp227]

From the Ring of Fire Radio website: "Texas Jailers Accused of Running 'Rape Camp'":

Two women are suing Live Oak County, Texas and its former jailers for sexual assault and running what they call a “rape camp,” according to their complaint, which can be read in its entirety here. It was reported today that two women who were previously detained in Live Oak County Jail filed a complaint against former employees Vincent Aguilar, Israel Charles, Jr., and Jamie E. Smith, accusing the three men of heinous acts of sexual assault.

The complaint alleges that, “Beginning sometime in 2007 to at least August of 2010, the Live Oak County Sheriff’s Office ran a ‘rape camp’ known as the Live Oak County Jail. In this facility, numerous jailers, all employed by the Live Oak County Sheriff’s Office, repeatedly raped and humiliated female inmates over an extended period of time.” The charges include forcing female inmates to perform sexual acts on the guards and on each other, varying methods of rape, and physical and verbal abuse.

“In order to facilitate their carnal impulses, these guards would withhold food and water, engage in physical abuse, restrict privileges, and verbally and emotionally abuse the women – even threaten to kill them in order to compel their compliance.” The complaint asserts, “In addition to the repeated sexual assaults, numerous female inmates were sexually harassed.”

I hope people who read this will STOP POSTING prison rape "jokes" on DU. Somehow even progressives fall into the right wing trap of tolerating such jokes against prisoners because prisoners are worth less than the rest of us.

[Triana]

1. More members of the American Taliban. n/t

[Ilsa]

2. A jailed inmate dismisses the jailers' threats

at their own peril: people have been known to "disappear" from jails in deep south Texas. A body taken out in to the brush can be eaten by coyotes and vultures before a scrap of bone is ever found. A body sunk in a river can be devoured by alligators.

I, for one, believe the inmates' stories are entirely possible.

[davidn3600]

3. A lot of people think the rape should be part of the punishment, that's why they joke about it

Got some sick-minded people in this country.

This is a very vulnerable segment of the population because most of society doesn't care what happens to these people. There is practically no federal oversight. And the media pays no attention at all to prison abuse.

All this being said, and abuse does occur, I wouldnt necessarily believe and trust every single inmate story. Some do lie. Some are also legit trouble-makers and therefore are treated a bit more roughly. Apparently in this case though in the OP it was true because 3 officers were arrested for it. I think there does need to be more oversight from the government, especially if we are going to continue going down this road of privatization of the system.

[Gravitycollapse]

6. What's disturbing is that so many people without sick minds see prison rape as justice.

[Unca Jim]

9. Indeed!

It's disturbing...

[uppityperson]

11. Indeed. The sick ones it is unfortunately understandable, but those who I consider ok? Appalling.

Not ok in any case.

[niyad]

4. I read that this morning, and was horrified, although, not surprised.

[Gravitycollapse]

5. The prolific nature of prison sexual assault is absolutely mind boggling.

And I am at a total loss as to how we end the practice. It is such an immense problem that it surely must require a paradigm shift in our humanity.

[KamaAina]

23. Putting fewer people in prison would help

we now have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world.

End the drug war, for Pete's sake.

[niyad]

7. couldn't remember the name of the woman, many years ago, who killed the guard who raped her.

(Note: joan little, for those of us who remember back to 74) for those of you unfamiliar with her, check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Little

in googling "woman prisoner kills guard who raped her", google gave me 51,000,000 hits--and just the stories on the first three pages are sickening beyond belief.

[Doctor_J]

8. Time for the DoJ to come down on these people - hard

As soon as Snowden and all of the MMJ users are behind bars, of course

[BainsBane]

10. Horrifying

That you for posting this.

[ReRe]

12. K&R

(Facepalm) Is this a farmed out Corporate PRIVATE CONTRACTOR prison? I will be interested to see how those evil bastards are held accountable. Thanks for the news, alp227

[SheilaT]

13. Rape is never funny.

Period.

It's forced sexual contact. The details don't matter -- other than to perhaps those involved -- but it is NEVER acceptable, NEVER funny.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. Most real Liberals are for prison reform.

[LittleBlue]

15. Wait until the next conviction for rape/molestation of children

80% of the replies will be supportive of him getting raped in prison.

Whatever you believe, the vast majority of Americans support rape as a punishment for certain crimes. To them, it's justice. I've seen the same with false rape accusations, with many believing she deserves rape as a punishment for falsely accusing.

[Art_from_Ark]

20. But those replies will be nuanced

They'll be like, "Throw him in General Pop! They know how to deal with child rapists there!"

And some posters won't even wait for a conviction. Allegations are as good as a conviction for them.

[Zulan]

16. Rape is never funny, but some sick people think it's "justice".

There is a strong class recognition in people who need to feel better about themselves. This society creates "classes" of people (see the hysteria over the sexual predator list). These classes of individuals may be mistreated and denigrated (like gays as well) to allow other people who feel powerless in their lives to look down on someone. A ego boost for those with low egos.

You saw the same thing in the civil war, where poor farmers violently defended slavery, even though they had no hope of owning a slave. There was someone lower than them on the social totem pole.

This unfortunately leads to violence against those who are being dehumanized. It seems to be something in human nature, and is best countered by education.

[davidn3600]

19. Yep. The population overall has a real perverted idea of justice

Never mind the fact that the current system isn't working. Never mind the fact we got more gang members coming out of prison than going in. Never mind that we have more prisoners than any other country (except maybe N. Korea). No one gives a damn about those statistics. Ultimately, if you commit a crime, the society wants you to suffer. Period. They dont care if you end up repeating your crime, they're just send you back in. They want prison to be about punishment, not rehabilitation. And that plays into what you are talking about. There have been countless social psychology experiments that prove your theory is correct. And that's why you have people out there in America who don't care if prisoners are abused or raped or even murdered for that matter.

If you right now were a Senator and proposed a bill to reform the prisons or even just to create more federal oversight into preventing abuses and inhumane conditions, you better be from a very blue state because that could kill your career. They will call you a "bleeding heart liberal." They will claim that you care more about criminals than victims. They will say you support rapists and pedophiles and serial killers. It could get nasty.

It's a violent country.

[Bigmack]

17. I can think of something that might be worse...

... than being raped in prison.

Solitary.

Don't know that for sure... don't want to find out, either, but I found this:

Isolation is....
Confinement behind a solid steel door for 23 hours a day
Limited contact with other human beings
Infrequent phone calls and rare non-contact family visits
Extremely limited access to rehabilitative or educational programming
Grossly inadequate medical and mental health treatment
Restricted reading material and personal property
Physical torture such as hog-tying, restraint chairs, and forced cell extraction
Mental torture such as sensory deprivation, permanent bright lighting, extreme temperatures, and forced insomnia

Seems like both rape and solitary are two sides of the same coin. And we allow both to go on... and on.

Inhuman and inhumane.

[mountain grammy]

18. Nothing says "third world" like conditions in prisons and nursing homes.

America never has been very good at humane treatment of prisoners or the old and infirm. There were some notorious examples of public institutions that were unimaginably awful, but it was always a question of funding, and the expose's only added to the "government is the problem" meme that was so popular in the 80's.
Instead of common sense funding and oversight of public institutions, we were convinced only private business could properly manage our government. So now we have private corporations running prisons and nursing homes, and that's not working out so well either, but it's costing a hell of a lot more money and a few at the top get rich.

[KamaAina]

24. It's not just "the old and infirm".

Fully one quarter of U.S. nursing home residents are people under age 65 who have significant disabilities. In a rare moment of lucidity, the Rehnquist Court attempted to address this situation in its 1999 ruling in Olmstead v. L.C., which established the right of people with disabilities to live in community rather than institutional settings.

[RandiFan1290]

21. Texas. nt

[duhneece]

22. JustDetention.org

Our production program of The Vagina Monologues is a Resource Book, and we include info on Just Detention International among our local resources:

Mission

Just Detention International is a health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse in all forms of detention. The rape of detainees, whether committed by corrections staff or by inmates, is a crime and is recognized under international law as a form of torture. In the U.S., sexual assault in detention has reached epidemic levels, with more than 200,000 people subjected to this form of violence every year.

http://www.justdetention.org/

Inmates are among our most vulnerable population and no one, no one DESERVES rape. Period.