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February
6, 2002
David
Vest
The
Enron Creature
February
5, 2002
Norman
Madarasz
Dispatch
from Pôrto Alegre
Tom Malinowski
What
to do with
Our "Detainees"?
Dita Sari
Why
I Rejected the
Reebok Human Rights Award
February
4, 2002
Eric Miller/Beth
Daley
Five
Weapons Systems
That Bilk the Taxpayers
Kenneth
Roth
Dear
Condoleezza,
You've Misstated the
Geneva Convention
Robert
Jensen
The
Occupation Must End
Shahid
Alam
How
Different Are
Islamic Societies?
David
Vest
Everybody
Says I Loathe You
John Chuckman
American
Politics of Grief
February
3, 2002
Zoltan
Grossman
War
and New Military Bases
February
2, 2002
Francis
Schor
Carlucci's
Strange Career
February
1, 2002
Dr. Susan
Block
The
Great Ashcroft Cover Up
Jeremy
Voas
Why
We're Suing Ashcroft
David
Vest
10
Things I Know About Him
January
31, 2002
Rahul
Mahajan
The
State of the Union:
A New Cold War
Dave Marsh
Miles
Copeland, War
and the Future of Music
John Pilger
The
Colder War
Alexander
Cockburn
American
Journal:
Killer Dog, Weird Couple
Dr. Susan
Block
Blowback
and Daniel Pearl
January
30, 2002
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Linda
Lay, Hill and Knowlton and the Tears of a Clown
Jack McCarthy
Free
Noelle Bush!
Michael
Ratner
Memo
to Bush: Adhere to
the Geneva Convention
Jay Moore
Proud
to be an American?
Susan
Block
The
Great Pretzel Swallower
and Guantanamo Porn
January
29, 2002
Gary Leupp
Why
This War Was, and Remains, Utterly Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Birds of Kandahar
Patrick
Cockburn
Afghan
Opium Trade
Back in Business
January
28, 2002
Larry
Chin
Brosnahan
for the Defense
Mokhiber/Weissman
Tyranny
of the Bottom Line
George
E. Curry
Civil
Rights Nominee Called Affirmative Action "Racist"
Sen. Russ
Feingold
Campaign
Finance Reform?
Think Enron
John Chuckman
Liberal?
Media?
January
27, 2002
Mokhiber
and Weissman
Enron's
Drip, Drip, Drip
Tom Turnipseed
MLK
Jr.'s Dream Perverted
January
26, 2002
Norman
Madarsz
Adieu,
Bourdieu
January
25, 2002
National
Lawyers Guild
Know
Your Rights
Alexander
Cockburn
You
Call This Terrorism?
CounterPunch
Wire
Cal
Energy Crisis Hoax:
It Wasn't A Shortage,
It Was a Shakedown
Tariq
Ali
Kashmir,
Klinghoffer,
the Kurds and Chomsky
Nadine
Strossen
Protecting
MLK Jr.'s Legacy:
Justice and Liberty After 9/11
January
24, 2002
Robert
Fisk
Turkey
Targets Chomsky
Dean Baker
Lying
on Top:
Ken Lay One of Many
David
Vest
Idiot
Wind
January
23, 2002
Terry
Waite
Guantanamo
Prisoners:
Justice or Revenge?
Molly
Secours
The
Case of Abu-Ali:
Racism and the Death Penalty
Robert
Jensen
Speak
Out, Get Slimed
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
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CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
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bin Laden and Bush
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Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
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The New Crusade:
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Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
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The New Intifada:
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Edited by Roane Carey
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February 6,
2002
Sentenced to Rape
By Vivian Berger
While male custodians' exploitation of female
inmates has garnered publicity over the years, prisoners' sexual
abuse of other prisoners has generally been a taboo subject.
But it attained a higher profile when Human Rights Watch issued
a report last year: "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons."
Thanks in part to "No Escape,"
the climate of indifference may eventually change enough to refute
an inmate's comment that nobody cares what happens to a prisoner.
At least these exposés might shame the people in charge
into taking more effective remedial action.
Filled with horrifying letters from victims,
the report describes in chilling detail Darwinian correctional
institutions, where the strong prey on the weak and officials
look the other way or, worse, facilitate oppression. Typically,
predators check out the new arrivals and target those who appear
vulnerable: the young, the small, first-time offenders, homosexuals
or Caucasians. Once raped, the newcomer (dubbed a "turn
out" or "punk") becomes fair game for future assaults
by the original assailant or others. Sometimes, he will be "sold"
or "rented" to different inmates for sexual services;
he may also be forced to perform a variety of menial tasks for
his "owners."
A LITANY OF
HARMS
Psychic harms include great loss of self-esteem
and serious depression: Raped prisoners are 17 times more likely
to attempt suicide than inmates generally. In the words of a
16-year old inmate: "I don't feel like a human being anymore.
I'm a sexually abused animal." "Punks" also frequently
suffer physical injuries from sexual assaults.
Finally, rape propagates sexually transmitted
diseases. In the worst-case scenario, the target may become infected
with HIV. Kendell Spruce was raped by more than 20 assailants
in one year while imprisoned in Arkansas on a fraudulent-check
conviction; he ended up contracting AIDS. A misdemeanant, he
got, as he noted, a sentence of death.
What is the incidence of these atrocities?
Nobody really knows. Many states do not compile specific data
on prison rape. Those that do publicize numbers so low that knowledgeable
people give them no credit. Recent studies have found that, of
2 million inmates, more than one in five have suffered unwanted
sexual conduct; one in 15, an estimated 140,000 according to
Human Rights Watch, have been raped. And these shocking statistics
may actually understate the problem. Prison officials, fearing
lawsuits, have no desire to air their dirty linen in public.
Victims remain quiet out of shame or fear of retaliation.
History gives prisoners no reason to
believe that complaints will help. Many officials expect them
to protect themselves. Investigations are largely perfunctory
or nonexistent, with few charges referred for prosecution. Wardens
tend to impose slap-on-the-wrist sanctions on perpetrators and
often do not even transfer them away from their victims or place
them in protective custody. Most prisons furnish scant medical
care or counseling.
Guards may use sexual assault or its
threat as a means of keeping inmates in line or retaliating against
them. A form for a civil rights complaint quotes a unit sergeant
as saying: "In a man's prison, little boys get their asses
busted, and your [sic] a fresh 16 and I know your going to get
it good. Cause I'm going to help. I know who to put in the cell
with you."
Legal remedies provide too little, too
late. Eighth Amendment damages actions compel plaintiffs to surmount
the high hurdle of proving that prison administrators were "deliberately
indifferent" to their plight. Injunctive suits to remedy
prison conditions prospectively now confront new barriers imposed
by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996.
As pointed out by Stephen Donaldson,
the late president of Stop Rape Now, we cannot afford to return
to the community brutalized and enraged prisoners -- for "today's
victim is tomorrow's predator." If not for reasons of simple
humanity and legality, then on grounds of self-protection, society
must commit to ending the present appalling situation.
Vivian Berger
is professor emerita at Columbia Law School. This article originally
appeared in The National Law Journal.
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