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Prison Rape — no laughing matter

October 26, 2013
By
rape

Click on the picture to learn more about prison rape and how to help stop it.

PRISON RAPE

by Deborah Kendrick

According to empirical studies, the incidence of prison rape is much more prevalent with female prisoners than males.

Females are disproportionately victimized by inmates in state and federal prisons and local jails. Females represent 7% of sentenced prison inmates but accounted for 21% of all victimization in federal and state prisons. Similarly, females account for 13% of inmates in local jails but 32% of all victims” (Bureau of Justice )

KEEP THIS IN MIND: WHILE THESE STATS SAY THAT WOMEN ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE VIOLATED, MALE PRISONERS GROSSLY UNDER-REPORT DUE TO FEELINGS OF SHAME AND FE AR OF RECRIMINATION. PRISON INMATE S THAT β€œSNITCH” DO SO IN PERIL FOR THE IR LIVES. THIS IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION.

And also keep in mind that most states consider a young person of 17 years old an adult and incarcerate them in adult facilities without any special protection.Β  As for minors/juveniles – the incidence of prison rape is enormous! “Fight, fuck or pay protection” is the age-old advice given male inmates faced with rape and sexual coercion in U.S. prisons. With a prison and jail population now over 2 million it is conservatively estimated that over 300,000 males are sexually abused each year in U.S. prisons, compared to an estimated 135,000 female sexual assaults occurring annually in t he U.S. (from β€œSexual Assault in Prison, the Numbers are Far From Funny” published in Touches to ne Vole IX, No 5, Nov/Dec 1999).

Just Detention International (formerly known as Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.) estimate that young men are five times more likely to be attacked and that the prison rape victims are ten times more likely to contract a deadly disease. A meta-analysis published in 2004 found a prevalence rate of 1.91% with a 95% confidence interval between 1.37–2.46%. In a survey of 1,788 male inmates in Midwestern U.S. prisons by Prison Journal, about 21% claimed they had been coerced or pressured into sexual activity during their incarceration, and 7% claimed that they had been raped in their current facility.

We’ve all heard variations on the prison rape joke… “Don’t bend over in the shower to get the soap” “Better wear soap on a rope.” And, believe it or not, there actually exists a board game called β€œDon’t Drop t he Soap β€œin which players are tasked with fighting their way through a prison. The misconception being that whoever winds up in jail or prison deserves whatever they get, even if that means gang rape resulting in anal lacerations requiring surgery. What a laugh fest this makes, huh? Another ignorant misconception is that only gay or wimpy guys get raped in prison, when in reality, the majority are heterosexual and of average “masculinity”.

We need to change attitudes of the populace about this problem. We cannot and should not tolerate jokes being made about prison sexual abuse. We should take offense when the movie industry produces movies that portray this as something that is a comedy. It is not. The impact on the people who are abused is significant both physically and psychologically.

While sexual abuse and rape have nothing to do with sex, soap-dropping jokes and their ilk permit people to escape their discomfort with male-male sexuality by cloaking it in cheap laughs.

There is a really, really long way to go before the public adopts a zero tolerance attitude towards prison rape.

Another compilation by:

Deborah Kendrick Prisoner Advocate/Anti-Death Penalty Activist https://www.facebook.com/groups/465461446868632/

www.wordswithinthewalls.webs.com

Published with permission of the author.

national coalition for men

Β Prison rape is not a laughing matter to the rape victims.

Prison rape is a major problem and solutions need to be found.

One Response to Prison Rape — no laughing matter

  1. Shaikh on December 9, 2013 at 12:36 PM

    Thank you Deborah!!

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