Rape in Jails/Prisons

[Hanna]

I hate how often times, guards ignore cries for help and do nothing about rape in prisons.
Rape, in confined spaces like jail is inevitable, but it irritates me how lazy jailors can be.
Every time there is an incident such as fights or rape, they have to file paperwork, which if you "didn't know it happened" that paperwork doesn't have to be filed.

In some prisons, guards will bribe prisoners with cigarettes or luxuries to obtain information on another inmate by raping them until they talk.

Something as simple as doing your job can reduce the rape rates because people who are looking forward to getting out of jail don't want to jeopardize that.



Opinions of jail rape, should it be considered as much of a crime as regular rape adding years to your sentence?

[Blassreiter]

I think the whole justice system is sheer garbage. It usually deals with incidents indirectly, for instance an obvious robbery still needs a witness or something ridiculous like that. Or the fact that the system is very lenient towards criminals, especially if they can bribe their way out. Bribing should be banned, that way people will know that crime has no escape. Why the hell do you think crime rates are high? Because the system is weak. Of course I don't know a way better system but I feel that fear should be instilled because crime is bad after all. The justice system should be the "hell" that people know of and if they want to stay away from that hell then they should just be competent and responsible people. I know some individuals who don't care about going to jail, and I ask them why; they say that they just serve a few years and then they're back in the streets. It's like a vacation for them too. This shows that the justice system is just stupid. I also read somewhere that prisons receive much more funding from the government more than public schools.

[whocares8128]

Bribing should be banned, that way people will know that crime has no escape.

Exactly where is bribery legal?

[Blassreiter]

Exactly where is bribery legal?

I actually meant to say bail, not bribe. Read bribe and used it..

[Hanna]

I agree, I don't think bail should be an option.

[Arsik]

Why should bail be illegal and banned? Unless the definition of bail has changed without my knowing, it shouldn't even be considered abolished. Bail isn't a get out of jail free card; it's a form of legalized blackmail that in most cases prevents people from escaping justice, because if the accused fails to show up to court, they forfeit the money they invested for the bail to the government. In the American justice system, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Bail is set for the person prior to the actual hearing/trial, when they're still innocent. So if we abolish bail, that means that person, who at the moment is innocent, is locked up until he proves his innocence instead of the prosecution proves that he is guilty, and taking away that person's rights for a crime he may not have even committed. Instead of abolishing bail, the government should make it so that nobody can just scoff at the price and walk away without looking back, simply by having bail be set based on the person's annual income plus the crime commited, as well as taking away any privileges that might allow the person to escape (driver's licence, passport, company vehicle if the need arises) if the person's flight risk is high enough. That alone would definitely keep more suspects from escaping than abolishing bail and locking the person up until they prove their innocence.

As for the topic: yeah, it's wrong, and there should be better surveillance to stop this, but until the government steps up to improve prison conditions so that each prisoner gets his own cell instead of having to share, guards/wardens that aren't corrupt by being screened before even being able to get a licence to be a guard, and video surveillance 24/7 to capture everything that happens in the prison, it's going to continue. The government won't invest money into any project that has to deal with, in their eyes, the scum of the country unless absolutely necessary, just to keep some of said scum from being raped, meaning that the old prisons will just keep getting more and more filled until there is literally no more room for more prisoners, or there's too much structural damage that the government needs to make a new prison. It's just something that people have to deal with, or actually actively try and put a stop to it instead of relying on the government to do it for them.

[Nanaho]

...Dude. I've had a lot of family members in and out of prison, Federal, State and County. It's not as bad as you're making it seem. You make it sound like every prison has a ring of corrupt guards and that people get raped weekly o_o! People do swing to the homosexual side during longer prison sentences, but it's mostly psychological. People blow the actual statistics away out of proportion. It's like saying "Every highschool has a teacher that molests the student!!!!" or "If you go near the Mexican border you'll get kidnapped or shot!"

[Juno]

I haven't seen any hard numbers that suggest it's anywhere near as bad. While there's no doubt that the situations you described happened, it seems unlikely that they're common.

[Hanna]

I haven't seen any hard numbers that suggest it's anywhere near as bad. While there's no doubt that the situations you described happened, it seems unlikely that they're common.

Obviously it varies on the jail/prison and location but that doesn't mean the problem isn't severe.
I spent around 6 months in jail in a juvenile correctional facility and there were girls in there would were sexually assaulted daily.
Not everyone was hurt, but the few girls who were were dragged into the shower by guards and locked in because they refused to go, and anyone who stood up to them (typically girls who were new to the system) would get their ass beat.

It is estimated that every 1 in 100th inmate is sexually assaulted
my local prison has around 20,000 inmates.
that's a lot of rape.

[Cynic]

It depends. There are really some unfortunate people in jail for non-violent, victimless crimes; i.e. simply doing or selling drugs. I'm pretty sure such minor crimes don't even warrant punishment, let alone rape.

Now, if we're talking about people like child molesters or heartless killers, then yeah, they should be raped and I see no reason to stop it or punish it.

Usually though, people don't give a shit about the situation, even if someone is truly undeserving of being raped. Most Prison Doctors and Psychologists are just heartless twats who shrug it off as-well.