Sex in men's prisons: 'The US system cultivates rape. If you treat people like animals, they behave like it.' Human Rights Watch estimated in 2010 that 140,000 US inmates have been raped.

dolandoes · 2014-03-01T11:42:34+00:00

Prison rape is one of the least discussed and most endemic issues facing, and/or potentially facing, a lot of men today (criminals are still human beings, after all); the fact that the issue should be easy to resolve/correct (as prisons are highly monitored and controlled environments), but still isn't, is proof that it isn't being taken as seriously as it should be.

Many surveys/reports, including those conducted by organizations within/under The Bureau of Justice Statistics (http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=278; http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=406; http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2202), show that a lot of inmates report being sexually assaulted by both staff and other inmates (a lot of the incidents reported by inmates involved abuse by staff, especially); who does one tell when no one seems to care, when they are already in a repressed position and have essentially no voice in society, and when those who are doing them wrong are the very same people in authority over them?

Likewise, all of the jokes about prison rape (the references to "being bubba's bitch" and/or to not "dropping the soap," et cetera) only continue to confirm the idea that hardly anyone in society is really taking prison rape all that seriously; it's likely one of the most mocked and down-played forms of rape in existence. Some would probably argue that the joking is intended to lessen the harsh realities of prison rape, like a coping mechanism, but I doubt that that is all that it is.

People rarely consider/care about the humanity of criminals, often grouping even the non-violent ones with the worst of offenders, and that is a problem; criminals are all still people, and not every criminal is a violent psychopath or a child molester or a murderer/rapist, but some people who've committed non-violent and even relatively minor offenses are still caged up with people who are those things.

I would even go so far as to argue that, when it comes to the feminist idea of "rape culture," prison rape, especially in male prisons, is easily one of the truest and most valid examples conceivable; it is dismissed, excused, mocked, concealed, ignored and belittled--it is normalized, almost considered an inevitability, like if you're going to prison, you know that it could happen--people will mock that very reality, or the potential of that becoming a reality for you or for other men, despite its horrendous nature. It just isn't taken seriously by most or seen as much of a big deal, but it is a big deal, and it should be taken seriously.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (http://nicic.gov/PREA; http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=20) is aimed at helping to solve this problem, but it's not enough, and more needs to be done; when will people start to take this issue seriously?

Being sent to serve a sentence in prison should not also be accompanied, by default, with people completely disregarding your humanity, and/or allowing you to be raped or treated like an absolute animal. Prison rape should not be ignored or dismissed or belittled; it must be addressed and corrected (the system needs to be fixed).

No civilized society should permit or tolerate such things, even in prisons; it is inexcusable to ignore, to dismiss, and/or to disregard prison rape. If feminists want to argue that "rape culture" exists, then they've got a perfect example in male prison rape to fit their definition(s)--I'll be waiting for them to get right on helping to solve/correct the issue, thereby helping men and male victims, any day now.

I won't be holding my breath, though; I'd hate to die of oxygen-deprivation.

unclefisty · 2014-03-01T16:35:42+00:00

I doesn't help that there are droves of people who either think prison rape is a feature and not a bug or who just make a joke of it.

Quiet_K · 2014-03-01T22:59:38+00:00

Well for those interested there are organizations that are trying to make things better such as http://www.justdetention.org/

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