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<h1 class="articleOpinion-title articleWidth-title">Americans’
complicity in the prison rape crisis</h1>
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<div class="articleOpinion-credit articleWidth-credit js-toggle--fade"><b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/4/united-states-prisonrapesexualassaultovercrowdedprisons.html">http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/4/united-states-prisonrapesexualassaultovercrowdedprisons.html</a></small></small></b><br>
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<p class="articleOpinion-standfirst opinion-standfirst"><b>The target
of jokes and indifference, sexual assault has become part of the
American prison experience</b></p>
<div class="articleOpinion-dateByline opinion-dateByline">
<div class="articleOpinion-dateTime opinion-dateTime"> <span
class="date">April 28, 2014</span> <span class="time">3:15AM ET</span>
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<div class="articleOpinion-containerByline"> by <span
class="articleOpinion-byline"><a
href="http://america.aljazeera.com/profiles/s/arjun-sethi.html"
title="Arjun Sethi" class="articleOpinion-byline--link">Arjun Sethi</a></span>
<span class="articleOpinion-contact"><span
class="articleOpinion-twitter"><a
href="http://www.twitter.com/arjunsethi81" target="_blank"
title="@arjunsethi81" class="articleOpinion-contact--link">@arjunsethi81</a></span></span>
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<p>The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, a maximum-security prison in
Wetumpka, Ala., was built in 1942 to house 400 inmates. Today the
facility houses more than 900 women and is the subject of a major
investigation by the Department of Justice. In a report in January, the
DOJ called Tutwiler a “toxic, sexualized environment,” citing a sordid
history of overcrowding, poor staffing and limited oversight. More than
a third of the prison staff have had sex with inmates.</p>
<p>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, <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/shame-our-prisons-new-evidence/?pagination=false">roughly
200,000 inmates were sexually abused</a> 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 <a target="_blank"
href="https://nplusonemag.com/raise-the-crime-rate">more men are raped
than women.</a> 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. </p>
<p>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 <a target="_blank"
href="http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Brown_v_Plata_131_S_Ct_1910_179_L_Ed_2d_969_2011_Court_Opinion">cruel
and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment</a>. 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.</p>
<p>In such conditions, sexual assault isn’t necessarily
foreseeable. But is it surprising? Human rights abuses left unchecked
deteriorate into human rights crises.</p>
<p>While deplorable prison conditions have facilitated the epidemic,
our indifference has sustained it, making us complicit. The bodily
integrity of prisoners has become a laughing matter. Just turn on your
television. Prison rape is the target of countless jokes on reality
shows and late-night comedy.</p>
<p>Much of this is political. Prisoners are typically poor, can’t vote
and have few advocates. Political power is not even within their
imagination. Victims of sexual assault have even less power. The
majority never report the crime for fear of retaliation or further
abuse. In a world of meritorious causes and limited resources, prisoner
rights often go ignored. </p>
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<div class="pullQuote-quote">The U.S. incarcerates a larger share of
its black population than South Africa did at the apex of apartheid,
and states spend more on prisons than on public education. </div>
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<p>Nor is the public a reliable ally. Although <a
href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Trends_in_Corrections_Fact_sheet.pdf"
target="_blank">one in roughly 32 Americans</a> will be incarcerated
at some point during their lifetimes, most Americans see prison as
reserved for the truly deviant. Thus, so long as crime and sexual
violence takes place in prisons rather than backyards, it’s not
considered a pressing problem deserving of government resources. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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 “<a
href="http://www.justice.gov/ag/smart-on-crime.pdf" target="_blank">smart
on crime</a>.” </p>
<p>And rightly so. The U.S. incarcerates <a
href="http://www.policymic.com/articles/86519/statistics-show-how-mass-incarceration-represents-a-new-racial-caste-system"
target="_blank">a larger share of its black population</a> than South
Africa did at the apex of apartheid, and states consistently spend more
money on prisons than on public education. The moral and financial
costs of mass incarceration are simply untenable.</p>
<p>Liberals and conservatives are now rethinking the war on drugs,
advocating for shorter sentences, and considering out-of-prison
penalties for nonviolent crimes. Restoring fairness and balance to the
American criminal justice system is the first step to eradicating
inhumanity within it.</p>
<p>There has been recent progress on the issue of prison rape, too. In
February, the Justice Department <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/doj-prison-rape_n_4775411.html"
target="_blank">threatened to withhold funding</a> to states that
failed to meet certain standards in detecting, preventing and
responding to sexual abuse in prisons. Last month, the Department of
Homeland Security <a
href="http://www.correctionalnews.com/articles/2014/03/18/dhs-finalizes-prison-rape-regulation-standards"
target="_blank">finalized comprehensive guidelines</a> to eliminate
prison rape in immigration detention centers and holding facilities.</p>
<p>For the women of Tutwiler prison, and countless others, change can’t
come soon enough. For more than a generation, we have tolerated — nay,
mocked — a human rights catastrophe of our own making. It is time to
marshal the necessary will and resources, and conclude this shameful
story.</p>
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Arjun Sethi is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and a frequent commentator
on civil rights and social-justice-related issues. He is on the board
of directors of Grassroots Leadership.
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