Posted by: BathroomCoffee May 23, 2007
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Drug Users Face Higher Prison Rape Risk
US Civil rights organization Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR) published a report explicitly linking the War on Drugs with the epidemic of sexual violence in America's prison system this week, and said people convicted of non-violent drug offences are most at risk of attack.
"Anyone can become a victim of prisoner rape, but non-violent drug offenders who are unschooled in the ways of prison life tend to be targeted," said Lovisa Stannow, SPR's Co-Executive Director, "Especially when they are housed in cramped cells or in poorly monitored dormitories that were never meant to hold inmates in the first place."
'Stories from Inside' documents 24 harrowing first hand accounts from non-violent drug offenders who were sexually assaulted, such as Bryson Martel, who was repeatedly raped by 25 inmates in an Arkansas jail, and contracted HIV. The report says one in five (20%) men and one in four (25%) of women inside America's vast gulag have been attacked with women most at risk of attack by guards and men from fellow prisoners.
However, Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist specializing in mental health in prisons, told Drug War Chronicle he disagreed with the statistics.
"I think the 20% figure is low for a couple of reasons. First, people don't report because they're afraid of the stigma. Men feel it is unmanly and won't admit it. There is also the fear of retaliation in prison, whether from staff or other prisoners," he pointed out.
"Secondly, a lot of sexual activity is not defined as rape by the participants. A young and fair male enters prison and is told by an older prisoner 'I'm going to have sex with you, and if you agree I won't beat you up and I'll protect you from other prisoners.' The young man agrees
and becomes a 'willing' partner, but it's rape, it's coerced out of fear. These guys might say they're not being raped, but they are," he pointed out.
Meanwhile in the UK, former head of the prison service Martin Narey warned that Britain is rapidly heading towards American levels of imprisonment with 'meltdown' in the prison system imminent.
"I wouldn't be surprised at all if by 2010 there were 100,000 people in prison," he told the Guardian.
"I think there is every chance that, at the end of the decade, we will look back nostalgically at a figure of 80,000. The US experience shows there is no end to this."
US Civil rights organization Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR) published a report explicitly linking the War on Drugs with the epidemic of sexual violence in America's prison system this week, and said people convicted of non-violent drug offences are most at risk of attack.
"Anyone can become a victim of prisoner rape, but non-violent drug offenders who are unschooled in the ways of prison life tend to be targeted," said Lovisa Stannow, SPR's Co-Executive Director, "Especially when they are housed in cramped cells or in poorly monitored dormitories that were never meant to hold inmates in the first place."
'Stories from Inside' documents 24 harrowing first hand accounts from non-violent drug offenders who were sexually assaulted, such as Bryson Martel, who was repeatedly raped by 25 inmates in an Arkansas jail, and contracted HIV. The report says one in five (20%) men and one in four (25%) of women inside America's vast gulag have been attacked with women most at risk of attack by guards and men from fellow prisoners.
However, Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist specializing in mental health in prisons, told Drug War Chronicle he disagreed with the statistics.
"I think the 20% figure is low for a couple of reasons. First, people don't report because they're afraid of the stigma. Men feel it is unmanly and won't admit it. There is also the fear of retaliation in prison, whether from staff or other prisoners," he pointed out.
"Secondly, a lot of sexual activity is not defined as rape by the participants. A young and fair male enters prison and is told by an older prisoner 'I'm going to have sex with you, and if you agree I won't beat you up and I'll protect you from other prisoners.' The young man agrees
and becomes a 'willing' partner, but it's rape, it's coerced out of fear. These guys might say they're not being raped, but they are," he pointed out.
Meanwhile in the UK, former head of the prison service Martin Narey warned that Britain is rapidly heading towards American levels of imprisonment with 'meltdown' in the prison system imminent.
"I wouldn't be surprised at all if by 2010 there were 100,000 people in prison," he told the Guardian.
"I think there is every chance that, at the end of the decade, we will look back nostalgically at a figure of 80,000. The US experience shows there is no end to this."