Texas Prisons Top Rape List: DOJ Drafts Reform

From AlterNet:

The number of rapes being committed annually in the U.S. prison system is just deplorable. And what’s even more shocking is that the majority of these crimes are reportedly being perpetrated by corrections officers. Who are the vast majority of victims? Women, gay men, juvenile offenders, the mentally disabled and the physically weak.

What’s even more gruesome is that five of the worst offending prisons are in Texas, which to me, suggests there is an atmosphere of abuse happening in the Lone Star State. At present, there is no automatic auditing of certain prisons where these rapes seem to be happening at a greater frequency. There currently is no uniformed process in which prison administrators are assessing the risk to certain inmates. In most of these prisons, there is not even a written mandate for prison officials to report any suspicions of sexual assault.

Consequently, we have prisons like the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, Texas—which topped the Bureau of Justice’s report— where 15.8 percent of its inmates report being raped annually. That means 470 people are raped in that prison each year, and the majority of those victims say they were raped multiple times.

More here.

This is exactly why I had so much trouble the last time I was on a jury panel back in Houston.

Well, it was more than that, actually: in addition to widespread rape, US prisons are also places where gang violence and racism among inmates are strongly encouraged by prison staff; health care is problematic, to say the least--prisoners with AIDS and cancer have very low prospects for survival. That is, if you're on a jury, and you convict somebody, there is a very good chance that you will be sentencing them to be raped, or to have the shit beaten out of them, or to death, even though the court simply calls it "ten to twenty years."

I, for one, refuse to take part in such vicious euphemizing. The next time I'm up for a jury, I will declare to the judge that my knowledge of the deplorable state of our prisons will definitely be a factor for me in determining the defendant's guilt or innocence. I will not be responsible for anyone being brutalized or murdered. I mean, I'll be dismissed from the panel, for sure, which is a drag because we need more people of conscience to serve in this capacity, but I have to be honest, too.

At any rate, the essay excerpted above goes on to report that Attorney General Eric Holder is taking a few baby steps toward some prison accountability. It's not much, but it is the first time I've ever heard of any government official doing anything about this national embarrassment.

Maybe in twenty or thirty years I'll be able to serve on a jury where the only drama is the crime itself.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$