Cornering Prison Rape

I've written before on prison rape, including my feeling that its status as a popular joke is one of the primary barriers to seeing true reform in the field. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a truly stellar post at the Corner (how often will I say that?) talking tough on the prison rape epidemic.

Anyone who looks at the problem can’t react with anything other than horror. According to the Bureau of Justice Statics, over 60,000 prisoners — the great bulk of them male — fall victim to sexual abuse in prison each year. A fair number of these men are “punks” who are subject to frequent, even daily, male-on-male rape for years on end.

The federal report’s conclusions — a zero-tolerance policy, more direct monitoring, and the like — almost are all common sense. State, local, and federal governments should take immediate legislative and administrative action to implement nearly everything in the report. (Most of the practices are already commonplace in the federal and better-run state systems.) Although giving trial lawyers more business rarely makes sense, Congress may also want to reconsider laws that make it very difficult for prisoners to sue prison authorities absent concrete evidence of physical harm. It’s quite possible that many legitimate prison-rape claims get thrown out of court under current laws. And prison rape needs to stop.

But the nation’s prison-rape problems can’t go away overnight for at least two major reasons. To begin with, the racial supremacist gangs that control many prisons use rape as a tool for keeping other prisoners in line and, in some cases, prison officials may turn a blind eye towards sexual abuse when it keeps prison populations more orderly. Second, the understandable widespread social distaste for people in prison has lead to a widespread attitude that’s frankly inhumane. It is one thing to say that prison shouldn’t be fun and quite another to say that detainees “deserve” rape. Nobody does. But, somehow, prison rape remains a perfectly acceptable topic for sitcoms, widely trafficked websites, and late-night comedians.

Government runs the prisons and, in the end, government policy will have to play the dominant role in eliminating prison rape. But, to facilitate that, society also has to change and acknowledge that, even though most people in prison have done awful things, they’re still human beings and still have rights.

Seconded.

Civil Rights Roundup: 10/01/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The former police chief of Gary, Indiana has been found guilty of civil rights violations after kicking a suspect during a raid.

A Michigan commission has thrown out disciplinary charges against a member of the state's board of canvassers who had opposed certifying a initiative that successfully banned affirmative action.

The Supreme Court will not rehear its decision striking down the use of the death penalty in child rape cases.

Large numbers of the House Black and Hispanic caucuses revolted against the failed bailout bill, alleging that it was insufficiently geared to suffering middle and working class voters.

The Justice Department is filing suit against the DC Metro after it allegedly refused to hire an applicant on basis of religion. The complaint alleges that the woman was rejected because her religious requirements demanded she wear skirts, while the uniform requirement for bus drivers is pants.

The federal government is taking over a case where police shot allegedly unarmed Katrina victims on a bridge leading out of New Orleans.

A jury found Eric County liable in a prison rape case.

Illegal immigrant arrests on the Mexican border are way down, but nobody knows if its the result of better deterrence or worsened enforcement.

A private immigration facility hired guards without giving them required background checks, then lied about it.

A fight is breaking out in a tony New York community over whether local Orthodox Jews can construct an eruv, or religious boundary, which would allow them to complete minor tasks on Shabbat. Basically, the boundary allows the Jews to religiously claim they are not going outside, skirting some Sabbath prohibitions.

Three civil rights groups are alleging that disabled students in Hillsborough, Florida schools are being neglected.

The fight to overturn Florida's unique (and atrocious) law prohibiting gay couples from adopting continues to progress through state court. Previous coverage on the local state court ruling here, and on a federal ruling several years ago here.

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/15/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The family of a gay California teenager who was slain by a classmate is suing the school, saying that it endangered their son by allowing him to wear feminine clothing and makeup.

Solid move by Tim Kaine: He issued a pardon to a local woman who had lived in the US since she was 7, who was facing deportation for a minor crime she committed 12 years ago. The move is giving her at least a one year reprieve from her deportation order, allowing her more time for appeals.

The Post cautions Americans that an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration will not work forever.

Also from the Post editorial page, a reminder to not forget about New Orleans.

An elementary school principal in Texas is under investigation after allegedly asking that her grandchild be placed in a classroom with "nice white neighborhood boys."

A former state legislator known for his "tough on crime" positions has stirred ire in his local community because he is sheltering former sex offenders who, thanks to ever tightening laws, cannot find places to live.

Rhode Island has lost over half the membership of its Commission on Hispanic Affairs after 11 resigned in protest over increased crackdowns on illegal immigration.

The Florida branch of the United States Civil Rights Commission has come out in favor of automatic restoration of the civil rights of released felons.

Ward Connerly is dodging Nebraska's campaign finance laws requiring donor disclosure by creating a shell organization to funnel the money through.

Black student test scores in San Francisco are lagging way behind their White peers.

Could a Major League Soccer squad do anything more foolish than harass its Latino fans? That's like a hockey team trying to drive out Canadians.

Jurors have convicted to prison guards on civil rights charges after they allegedly allowed inmates to rape a teenager in prison overnight for traffic violations.

Prison State

Junior Virginia Senator Jim Webb is talking about prison reform. Good for him. Prison reform is one of those issues that's really pressing, but never gets talked about, because what politician wants to stand up for prisoners rights? But when you read the stories about what happens in our nation's prison cells, up to and including officially-sanction rape, and it becomes evident that somebody needs to take a stand. Because when you can't tell Abu Gharib and Texas apart, something has gone horribly wrong.

The "Problem" of Prison Rape

Another great post (if one can say such a thing) about prison rape by Ankush at Ezra Klein's place. They relay the following story:

Tom Cahill, a former president of Stop Prisoner Rape, was arrested during the Vietnam War for civil disobedience. An ideologically unsympathetic jailer put him in a cell with known sexual predators, telling them he was a child molester, and that if they "took care of him" they'd get extra rations of jello. For the next twenty-four hours Tom was gang-raped. He has never fully recovered from this.

I read a story like this and all I can thing of is that the rapists:the jailer::the murderer:the getaway driver. Well, that's not entirely accurate--sometimes the getaway driver doesn't know that his partner has committed a murder. Here, the jailer was the mastermind behind the rape. That man should be in jail, and he should be there for the rest of his natural life.

Here's the thing, though--prison rape really isn't that difficult to get under control, if we're willing to be serious about it:

To some extent, stopping prisoner rape is simply an issue of better prison management. In facilities where the chief official cares about it, and ensures that his or her subordinates take it seriously, rates of sexual abuse go down dramatically. This is accomplished by, for example, providing vulnerable inmates with nonpunitive protective housing at their request, and establishing confidential complaint systems that encourage inmates to report sexual violence without increasing their risk of future assault or retaliation, from any party.

Ankush finishes it off:

There's more, but the takeaway is that none of the solutions would be particularly difficult to implement were there the political will and appropriate funding in place. If our government officials simply stopped ignoring this problem -- which isn't so much a "problem" as a series of ongoing and widespread human rights abuses occurring within our own borders -- it could probably be brought to an end (or as close to an end as such things can go) in fairly short order.

Truth.