Ezra Klein: Ending Prison Rape

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April 22, 2007

Ending Prison Rape

David Kaiser, the president of Stop Prison Rape, has a letter in the latest issue of The New York Review that's worth a look. Kaiser wrote in response to Jason DeParle's (typically excellent) essay a couple issues ago, which explored many of the problems with the American prison system (and which I wrote about here), and he urges that more attention be paid to the problem of inmate rape.

All of the stories of prison rape, which Ezra has written about in the past, are appalling, but Kaiser recounts the following one, which is likewise a truly terrible episode:

Tom Cahill, a former president of Stop Prisoner Rape, was arrested during the Vietnam War for civil disobedience. An ideologically unsympathetic jailer put him in a cell with known sexual predators, telling them he was a child molester, and that if they "took care of him" they'd get extra rations of jello. For the next twenty-four hours Tom was gang-raped. He has never fully recovered from this.

That one would never recover from such a thing is, of course, no surprise. Sadly, the issue of prison rape is rendered all the more tragic by the straighforwardness of the solutions:

To some extent, stopping prisoner rape is simply an issue of better prison management. In facilities where the chief official cares about it, and ensures that his or her subordinates take it seriously, rates of sexual abuse go down dramatically. This is accomplished by, for example, providing vulnerable inmates with nonpunitive protective housing at their request, and establishing confidential complaint systems that encourage inmates to report sexual violence without increasing their risk of future assault or retaliation, from any party.

There's more, but the takeaway is that none of the solutions would be particularly difficult to implement were there the political will and appropriate funding in place. If our government officials simply stopped ignoring this problem -- which isn't so much a "problem" as a series of ongoing and widespread human rights abuses occurring within our own borders -- it could probably be brought to an end (or as close to an end as such things can go) in fairly short order.

April 22, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

Prisons need to be racially segregated as well. Black males, who dominate prisons, invariable gang-rape the more feminine looking whites, asians and hispanics. It's terrible racism, and forces others to cling to their own racial groups for protection. The only solution is racial segregation, it has already begun in Cali (blacks & hispanics).

Posted by: adrian | Apr 22, 2007 4:51:45 PM

What happened to the jailer that set Cahill up? I didn't see it in the linked story (or even where the jail was). The jailer should be getting a taste of his own medicine.

Posted by: quiddity | Apr 22, 2007 5:02:02 PM

Important subject, Ankush. Thanks for bringing attention to the letter and the issue. Some more excerpts from Kaiser's letter:

The congressional authors of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) ... estimate in the bill's "Findings" section that in the twenty years preceding its passage over one million inmates were victims of sexual abuse in American facilities. That number should be recognized as something of a guess; but in the absence of more authoritative studies, it does not seem unreasonable. Prisoner rape is arguably this country's most serious human rights problem.
... rates of HIV/AIDS are several times higher inside our prisons than outside, just as they are now much higher among black Americans than white.

... sex in prison, which is common, and almost always unprotected, is also often coercive; ... as long as imprisonment even on minor charges can mean rape and HIV, it can and sometimes does amount to an unadjudicated death sentence

... When the government takes away a person's freedom, it is morally obligated to provide the basic necessities he or she can no longer secure independently: food, clothing, and shelter, and also elementary physical protection. DeParle writes, "Since 1980 the murder rate inside prisons has fallen more than 90 percent, which should give pause to those inclined to think that prisons are impossible to reform." We could similarly reduce the incidence of rape in prison.

... Some policies that could reduce prisoner rape need funding. Legislators can help in other ways as well. Overcrowding makes it much more difficult for staff to meet their responsibilities, particularly of supervision. But overcrowding is close to inevitable if we lock people up at present rates. Offering treatment instead of incarceration to nonviolent drug offenders would by itself reduce prisoner rape enormously.

These are points that need continuing attention, and journalists should be asking candidates about them.

Probably segregation of prisoners of the kind Kaiser suggests would be more helpful than racial segregation, at least for the purpose of preventing rape.

The jailer should be getting a taste of his own medicine.

No.

Posted by: Sanpete | Apr 22, 2007 7:06:18 PM

There is also an issue with the rate at which we incarcerate our population.

We simply have too many laws, too many unjust sentencing methods and thus we have too many people in prison, a large fraction of which pose little or no danger to the public.

Posted by: Thomas | Apr 22, 2007 8:50:04 PM

These are points that need continuing attention, and journalists should be asking candidates about them.

Ah, but the last thing journalists want to do is perceive themselves as "creating controversy." It will only be if one political party starts accusing the other political party of being "soft on prison rape" (or, alternately "coddling prisoners", the more common accusation) that journalists will be willing to say, "some members of the other party say you're turning a blind eye to prison rape. how do you respond?" Journalists are the only constituency that is going to hold politicians accountable for this, but none of them are going to.

Posted by: Constantine | Apr 22, 2007 10:32:34 PM

Sadly, the issue of prison rape is rendered all the more tragic by the straighforwardness of the solutions:

Simple and plain - allow prison rape victims to sue a State or officials that allow this to happen.

It'll be wiped out almost overnight.

Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | Apr 24, 2007 5:12:17 AM

For once, I agree with PIATOR except that his solution would create another nightmare for the already physically and financially burdened prison system. His viewpoint is myopic and he has not considered all of stakeholders.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Apr 24, 2007 10:04:50 AM

His viewpoint is myopic and he has not considered all of stakeholders.

I'm so terribly sorry. I wasn't aware of the need to be inclusive and reasonable in the face of a huge violation of human rights and the State conspiciously failing its duty of care.

If Fred Jones had had any influence on history instead of being a second-rate internet troll, the US would still be studying the best way to free the slaves, so as not to cause discomfort to any "stakeholders".

Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | Apr 24, 2007 12:48:54 PM

Heh

It never fails. In any argument, you fall back on an equvilancy to race or slavery. It doesn't matter what you discuss. Could be queer politics, wimmin's rights, unions......just doesn't matter.

You are, if anything, predictable.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Apr 24, 2007 3:56:35 PM

In any argument, you fall back on an equvilancy to race or slavery.

No, only those involving violations of human rights.

You are, if anything, predictable.

Fred, I could write a LISP program that would accurately simulate your comments.

Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | Apr 24, 2007 11:04:12 PM

Human rights? heh

You pick and choose which group to favor and leave the others out in the cold. For instance, you favor homosexuals, but the exact same reasons given for favoring them would also apply to other groups that you will not favor such as polygamists or two homosexual brothers wishing to marry. Yours is a philosophy of bullshit.

I could write a LISP program that would accurately simulate your comments.

That would seem easy. All you need do is learn conservative principles.

Posted by: Fred Jones | Apr 25, 2007 9:07:41 AM

It disgusts me how our leaders tolerate this kind of barbarism in our judicial system.

Posted by: Northern Observer | Apr 25, 2007 9:55:54 AM

For instance, you favor homosexuals, but the exact same reasons given for favoring them would also apply to other groups that you will not favor such as polygamists or two homosexual brothers wishing to marry. Yours is a philosophy of bullshit.

Fred, facts and arguments on this point have not the slightest impact on you. Your own bullshit about this point has already been fully overturned here and elsewhere. The only thing you show people on this topic is that you will believe what your prejudice leads you to, no matter the facts. Your mindless repetition of the same transparently bad arguments over and over and your occasional overt bigotry are a disservice to conservatism, and don't improve you any either.

Posted by: Sanpete | Apr 25, 2007 1:03:46 PM

Let me state this for the record: prison rape is funny and I cant help but laugh at the idiots who got thrown into jail and then got punked out.

If ezra and the other liberals want to stop prison rape, they can donate their incomes to pay for large prisons where everybody gets their own room and they are in lockdown 24 hours a day so that they never come into contact with any other prisoners.

Posted by: joe blow | Apr 25, 2007 9:52:37 PM

Another useless commemt, joe.

Posted by: Sanpete | Apr 25, 2007 11:46:57 PM

This sick individual, full of rage and hatred and sadism, now unequivocally embraces rape as a source of amusement. He means it.

Rape. The process by which one person is brought into physical and emotional trauma, sexual trauma, because it feels good to another. It is, to him, a positive phenomenon -- in this regard his position is analogous to the position of the rapist himself -- a lifelong source of trauma and shame to another human being is a fleeting pleasure to him. He revels in the suffering of other people, not as a necessary evil, but as a positive source of desire and pleasure.

Anyone who regards rape positively shares no common value from which we can engage in joint reasoning. There is no point in dialogue; you might as well try to reason with hatred itself.

Fred and Toke, whatever else you might think of them, denounced rape when the issue was put to them directly. At their best, they have been advocates of common human values, with different priorities and different ideas about how the values should be realized, but with a common core of humanity and a concept of decency. Joe Blow, on the other hand, has repeatedly embraced rape. He thereby renounces his human decency.

I have no idea why anyone would interact with this person, whatever else he might have to offer. Evidently he gains something from his interactions here. I suggest we permanently withhold them.

Posted by: RW | Apr 25, 2007 11:58:08 PM

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