Americans' Complicity in the Prison Rape Crisis

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23378-americans-complicity-in-the-prison-rape-crisis

Rape and sexual assault are as basic to the American prison experience as bars and bunk beds. The statistics are not entirely reliable, but in 2011 alone, the Justice Department estimates, roughly 200,000 inmates were sexually abused in detention facilities by prison staff or fellow inmates. Some were forced to perform sexual acts in exchange for sanitary supplies or to avoid punishment, while others were attacked, and submitted out of sheer powerlessness. The majority of these rape victims are men, leading some to ask whether the U.S. is the only country in the world where more men are raped than women. The prison rape epidemic is part of a broader human rights crisis. Home to less than 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. houses roughly a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Many are nonviolent offenders and suffer from drug addiction, mental illness or crushing poverty.

The majority of inmates live in overcrowded prisons. In California, for example, conditions were so appalling that in 2011 the Supreme Court ruled that they amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment. Dozens of prisoners shared a single toilet, suicidal inmates were held for prolonged periods in cages without toilets, and hundreds of prisoners slept in bunk beds in gymnasiums. Many state penitentiaries and federal correctional facilities face a similar crisis.

<snip>

As repeatedly seen during rape trials, some even shift the blame to the victims. In a cruel version of caveat emptor, aggressors defend their actions by highlighting victims’ sexual history and clothing. Prison rape is sometimes explained in a similar way: If prisoners hadn’t violated the law, they wouldn’t have been assaulted. In both cases, the victims have diminished rights and are seen as having invited the invasion.


Fortunately, for the first time in decades, there’s real momentum for criminal justice reform. Fiscal austerity has spurred unlikely bedfellows, and “tough on crime” has given way to “smart on crime.”

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Your paragraph after the 'snip' pretty much explains it.

Prison rape is sometimes explained in a similar way: If prisoners hadn’t violated the law, they wouldn’t have been assaulted.

I also think it gets a pass because the victims are men and coupled with the above quote, it means they aren't "really" victims, but rather "getting what they deserve." Just recently a post was hidden because it 'joked' about rape, as well as being homophobic.

Fat arrogant rednecks. These guys need to be jailed w/ big muscled up gay felons. " check that prostate for ya there pretty boy?"

One person, however, felt it didn't deserved to be hidden. Of course, there could be reasons (hit the wrong button, misread the post, believes all posts should be allowed to stand on DU, or thinks it was funny). The point is many people find it "funny" when the victim, real or proposed, is male. We see it in comedy routines, on TV, in the movies.

There are many things wrong with the penal system in the US, and this is one that is long past due for being discussed.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. +100 n/t

[grahamhgreen]

2. Kick