People
tend to try and make prison out to be a place where an inmate gets sexually
assaulted every minute of every day. The reality of prison abuse is that it
happens a lot less than people make it out to be. I don’t want to say that it
doesn’t happen, but it doesn’t happen as much as people think it does. Though
there has been a sexual abuse problem starting from prisons form the East coast
all over the states to the west coast, even when adjusted for the number of
inmates in a given system Texas happens to come up as a state that has sexual
abuse problems. Texas happens to have the worst record of prison sex abuse,
with 5 out of the 10 U.S. facilities with the highest sexual assault rates. One
of the inmates from Luther unit in Navasota in 2000 had stated that, “Many men
and women in Texas experience sexual abuse at the hands of officer and other
prisoners,” Cunningham said. This specific inmate told his story to a panel of
congressmen investigating sexual abuse in prisons in 2005. Even though sexual abuse in prison is not a
problem that is technically unique to Texas, in general the federal statistics
suggest that it's most common in the Lone Star State. Which makes me feel for
the inmates and because it’s giving Texas a bad name, It’s my home state and
who knows if the statistics were coming from only the highest prison sexual
abuse rates within the state comparing to low sexual abuse rates to hardly non
in other states. In this youtube video below shows how any there is sexual
abuse in prison and sometimes it can be more than just correctional officers,
some being therapists who are supposed to be the ones helping these inmates.
I picked this subject because it’s relatable
to all criminal justice majors because it’s something we learn about in the
class, hear about in the news and see on television. On television prison is
made out to be an unsafe place where people get attacked hourly when really it doesn’t
play out that way. We know in general that committing a crime in Texas and or
Florida is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make, because those are the
two toughest states to do time in. Texas is trying to make improvements towards
their sexual abuse statistics, but most of the state prison personnel believe
that the information from the inmates weren’t verified to be true, that many of
them could have made up stories, which in the end make Texas spark up in the
overall statistics of sexual abuse across the United States. Also Texas is the
only state in the country to have a special prosecution unit that happens to
specialize in specific crimes that have been committed in prison walls. Since
then Texas also implemented the Safe Prisons Program, which is designed to help
educate inmates about sexual assault and separate likely abusers from potential
victims in prison. Advancing is the only way Texas will be able to overcome
their horrible reputation, which I am rooting for. I hope one day to move back
to Texas and get established no matter what reporters have to say about the
state. But as I had stated before this is only a few of many prisons within the
U.S., it could have been any prison, but the statistics focused on Texas
prisons. Plus 1 or 2 or maybe even 5 prisons is not a big enough ratio for
general society to believe that sexual abuse happens all the time and in every
single prison.
Victoria Sims
References:
Texas leads nation in prison sex abuseTexas has worst record of prison sex abuse, State has 5 of the 10 U.S. facilities with the highest sexual assault rates. MEREDITH SIMONS and ROBERT GAVIN, WASHINGTON BUREAU Published 05:30 a.m., Monday, April 5, 2010
Youtube Video
http://youtu.be/b78Zg7TNWdE 
I agree that the sex abuse doesnt happen every day all day in jail but Im sure it happens alot. There are men that are in there for a super long time and they cant just not fulfill their needs. Maybe not everyone reports it as secual abuse because they dont want to be weak but there are some that will report it as sexual abuse because they dont want to look like a homosexual. You never know what is true anymore because media lies, people lie, and word that travels through many people changes from time to time!
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, like you said most people assume that sexual abuse in prison is high according to movies,media,etc this opened my eyes to the reality of it.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the focus of one of Dr. Krienert's study's. I don't believe sexual assault happens as much as media would like us to believe. If i remember correctly Dr. Krienert researched prisons across the country trying to find statistics on prison rape. Her study yielded that there was little first hand accounts of sexual assault going on in the prison visited. the inmates interviewed always said it was not going on here but the next prison over it was rampant. Which tells you that even the prisoners are lead to believe sexual assault goes on in prions across the U.S.
ReplyDeleteSo we don't have to worry about dropping the soap? It is interesting to know that it is a myth that sexual abuse and assault occur commonly within the walls of prisons. It is kind of like the razor blade in an apple during halloween myth. I'm sure that sexual assault happens, but this seems like a case where one bad apple has spoiled the whole bunch.
ReplyDeleteJust that we might think that it is a problem, many of these crimes go unreported so the statistics may be skewed. I am surprised California was not mentioned in this blog. I always had this view of the worst prisons being in California. In movies and television shows sexual abuse in prisons is a topic discussed. A particular movie that always stands out is Shawshank Redemption. Andy's character is targeted by a group of men called the Sisters for no apparent reason. They get off on men resisting them. They beat Andy all the time and then sexually violate him along with the beatings. Men and women have to endure this kind of abuse in prison all the time. If no one puts a stop to it can drive a person insane.
ReplyDelete