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US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

america.aljazeera.com

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Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#41

Post by blueskin_ »

eurleif wrote: post #3

It seems that a majority of these cases were actually consensual, not assault: >Among the substantiated staff-on-inmate cases in 2011, 54 percent were committed by women, the report said. From 2009 to 2011, 84 percent of the substantiated staff-on-inmate cases involved a sexual relationship with a female staff member that “appeared to be willing,” compared to 37 percent of the cases involving male staff members durin…

Or it's because of the massive sexist cultural bias against female-on-male rape.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#42

Post by yeukhon »

After watching "Orange is the new black" I thought prison was a really really dark place. Sexual assault is probably worse than worrying about next guy stab you.

While reading this article, I entertained the possibility of robot guards. The only problem is that prisoners can break them or alert the robots. Any idea how to keep these robots safe?

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#43

Post by vacri »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #38
scarmig wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works exactly as it's supposed to: as the primary instrument of white supremacy in a war against racial minorities. That's why the Drug War figures so prominently in explaining why we have a higher rate of imprisonment than any other country in the world, and why minorities are so disproportionately targeted in the drug war for petty offenses like using and selling crack (despite it being less pure than coke) or m…

In practice it may work out that way, but I don't believe that the majority of actors within the criminal justice system are acting in bad faith or are intentionally advancing a racist agenda. Indeed, many LEOs are racial minorities. I don't think it's helpful to characterize the actions of officers or DAs as racist per se but rather to point to the racist consequences of drug laws, LEO behavior, and so on. I think t…

LEOs don't make legislation or push for harsh sentences.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#44

Post by brc »

joshfraser wrote: post #18

Adam Gopnik's piece on The Caging of America does a good job explaining what's going on and summing up my feelings on the topic: "Prison rape is so endemic—more than seventy thousand prisoners are raped each year—that it is routinely held out as a threat, part of the punishment to be expected. The subject is standard fodder for comedy, and an uncooperative suspect being threatened with rape in prison is now represent…

I remember reading that piece when it came out. I've never made a prison rape joke since, and I always am willing to be the person who makes an uncomfortable pause to hose down someone prison rape joke. Racist and gay hatreds found their support in 'harmless' jokes, and for that to change, the jokes had to change. People still tell prison rape jokes (and include in plotlines) where they would never use a racist or homophobic joke.

So the best way forwards to work against the prison rape meme is to be that person who says 'well, I don't find jokes about rape funny at all.' You'll get rolled eyes and mutterings behind your back, but people will look back at this period and wonder why this was such a big public joke instead of a terrible injustice.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#45

Post by brc »

sdegutis wrote: post #4

I don't know much about prison, having fortunately never been there. So I just can't understand how an officer can have any kind of unsupervised and unseen time with inmates. I just assumed everything everywhere in a prison is monitored and recorded.

I have a friend who works on security systems for jails. There are plenty of areas unrecorded. There is cost for one thing - prisons are large places and recording all of it is expensive. There is also the hardware - all cameras etc are a possible source of bits and pieces that could be made into weapons or other contraband.

Hearing the security procedures that goes into taking actual tools into a jail makes your realise how locked down they are - every single item (down to a set of keys) has to be inventoried on the way in, and on the way out. No phones taken in - no exceptions. Bear in mind that staff working on security systems never get in the same space as prisoners - it's not like they're fixing cameras in the cafeteria while the prisoners mill around.

As an aside, he is investigating the use of automated drones for doing perimeter patrols. They are good at flying a set pattern with a camera payload. But there are many kinks to work out.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#46

Post by wavefunction »

vacri wrote: post #43
InclinedPlane wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice it may work out that way, but I don't believe that the majority of actors within the criminal justice system are acting in bad faith or are intentionally advancing a racist agenda. Indeed, many LEOs are racial minorities. I don't think it's helpful to characterize the actions of officers or DAs as racist per se but rather to point to the racist consequences of drug laws, LEO behavior, and so on. I think t…

LEOs don't make legislation or push for harsh sentences.

Their unions do, however. I'm not anti-union, but do tend to be anti-police union.

The California Correctional Officers union is routinely accused of pushing for harsher punishments as a job guarantee, which of course is a problem in a state with such over-crowding of its prisons like California. I would accuse them of gross moral indecency but it takes a pretty indecent person to become a CO anyways.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#47

Post by corobo »

yeukhon wrote: post #42

After watching "Orange is the new black" I thought prison was a really really dark place. Sexual assault is probably worse than worrying about next guy stab you. While reading this article, I entertained the possibility of robot guards. The only problem is that prisoners can break them or alert the robots. Any idea how to keep these robots safe?

Deploy more robots! For every robot that is damaged send out two to replace it, one in a "get the job done" mode and the other in a "cover that guy" mode

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#48

Post by Shinkei »

pmorici wrote: post #16
eurleif wrote: post #3

It seems that a majority of these cases were actually consensual, not assault: >Among the substantiated staff-on-inmate cases in 2011, 54 percent were committed by women, the report said. From 2009 to 2011, 84 percent of the substantiated staff-on-inmate cases involved a sexual relationship with a female staff member that “appeared to be willing,” compared to 37 percent of the cases involving male staff members durin…

There is a new Netflix series out called "Orange is the New Black" based on a true life story of a woman who gets sent to prison for being a drug mule for her lesbian lover and only gets caught many years later when she is leading a normal suburban life. At any rate, one of the plot lines is about a relationship between a prison guard and one of the female inmates. It comes up in the course of events that basically a…

Same with intoxication. Technically speaking, any sex under the influence of alcohol is non-consensual.

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#49

Post by JulianMorrison »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #20
pmorici wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a new Netflix series out called "Orange is the New Black" based on a true life story of a woman who gets sent to prison for being a drug mule for her lesbian lover and only gets caught many years later when she is leading a normal suburban life. At any rate, one of the plot lines is about a relationship between a prison guard and one of the female inmates. It comes up in the course of events that basically a…

To my knowledge, it is generally true that sexual contact between an inmate and a prison guard is legally rape no matter whether consensual or not. This is a kludge in the law; obviously, female guards falling in love with inmates and sleeping with them are not being "raped" in any conventional sense, and neither are the prisoners (who are the notional victims). However... we definitely do want to criminalize that co…

OK, well, lets twist this around into a form you'll understand.

Do you accept that there could be no valid consensual love between master and slave in the deep south in the height of the slave trade? Do you accept that if such a "love" happened, it would be so clearly tainted by unequal power, the fear of reprisals, the hope for respite and status, that it would be a mockery even if both parties honestly felt it?

Now ask how it can be different in prison?

Re: US Government: Guards may be responsible for half of prison sex assaults

#50

Post by thaumasiotes »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #49
thaumasiotes wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To my knowledge, it is generally true that sexual contact between an inmate and a prison guard is legally rape no matter whether consensual or not. This is a kludge in the law; obviously, female guards falling in love with inmates and sleeping with them are not being "raped" in any conventional sense, and neither are the prisoners (who are the notional victims). However... we definitely do want to criminalize that co…

OK, well, lets twist this around into a form you'll understand. Do you accept that there could be no valid consensual love between master and slave in the deep south in the height of the slave trade? Do you accept that if such a "love" happened, it would be so clearly tainted by unequal power, the fear of reprisals, the hope for respite and status, that it would be a mockery even if both parties honestly felt it? Now…

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, it feels redundant to say this, but...

Did you read the article I linked? It talks about a prisoner who impregnated four of his guards, who then bragged to each other about having his kids. How one of the guards went to the guy for moral support when she found the prison environment too disturbing to handle. How the prisoners passed around tips on seducing the guards. These were not guards with any power over the inmates.

The power dynamic we're talking about is one where the prisoners hold power over the guards, not the other way around.

> Do you accept that there could be no valid consensual love between master and slave in the deep south in the height of the slave trade?

Of course not, no more than I accept that there can be no valid consensual love between a rich guy and his poor mistress. Which of the things you mention as making a "mockery" of master-slave relationships doesn't apply?

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