Prison rape commonly refers to the
rapeRape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
of
inmatesA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
in
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, and jail , although in the United States "jail" and "prison" refer to different subtypes of correctional facility...
by other inmates or prison staff.
According to
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
, at least 140,000 inmates are raped each year, and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race.
Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.Just Detention International was founded in 1980 by Russell Smith as People Organized to Stop the Rape of Imprisoned Persons . In the mid-1990s, it was incorporated by current officers as "Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc." With the expansion of its programs to other countries, in 2008, it was renamed...
statistics indicate that there are more men raped in U.S. prisons than non-incarcerated women similarly assaulted. They estimate that young men are five times more likely to be attacked; and that the prison rape victims are ten times more likely to contract a deadly
diseaseA disease or medical condition isan abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs...
.
According to the study conducted by the
United States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans...
for the year 2006, there were 2,205 allegations of inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts reported, total, in the U.S. prison system. 262 of the allegations were substantiated.
Prison rape has become a staple of comedy or drama in films and television. Films such as
Office SpaceOffice Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical software company during the 1990s, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs...
,
Half BakedHalf Baked is a 1998 stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. The movie was directed by Tamra Davis, and co-written by star Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan...
, and
Let's Go to PrisonLet's Go to Prison is an American dark comedy that was released in theatres November 17, 2006, starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride, and directed by Bob Odenkirk....
have used it for comedic purposes, while prison drama
OzOz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz aired for six seasons...
contained multiple scenes of rape.
Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was an American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction including Slaughterhouse-Five , Cat's Cradle , and Breakfast of Champions...
's novel
Breakfast of ChampionsBreakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. Set in the fictional town of Midland City, it is the story of "two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast." One of these men, Dwayne Hoover, is a normal-looking but...
features a character, Wayne Hoobler, whose prison experience consisted of sexual encounters with other inmates.
Ramifications and statistics
Research has shown that
juvenilesJuvenile may refer to:* minor * Children's literature* Children's clothing...
incarcerated with adults are five times more likely to report being victims of
sexual assaultSexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may be by a man on a man, woman on a man or woman on a woman. Approximately one in six American women will be a victim of a sexual assault in her lifetime...
than youth in juvenile facilities, and the suicide rate of juveniles in adult jails is 7.7 times higher than that of juvenile detention centers. As states try growing numbers of juveniles as adults, the risk of
sexual abuseSexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another, when that force falls short of being a sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
increases.
In the United States, public awareness of the phenomenon of prison rape is a relatively recent development and estimates to its prevalence have varied widely for decades. In 1974 Carl Weiss and David James Friar wrote that 46 million Americans would one day be incarcerated; of that number, they claimed, 10 million would be raped. A 1992 estimate from the
Federal Bureau of PrisonsThe Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system....
conjectured that between 9 and 20 percent of inmates had been sexually assaulted. Studies in 1982 and 1996 both concluded that the rate was somewhere between 12 and 14 percent; the 1996 study, by
Cindy Struckman-JohnsonCindy Struckman-Johnson is a professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. She is also a commissioner on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission.-Education:...
, concluded that 18 percent of assaults were carried out by prison staff. A 1986 study by Daniel Lockwood put the number at around 23 percent for
maximum security prisonMaximum security prison is a concept used in both the United States and Canada.*For the United States see Incarceration in the United States#Security levels*For Canada see Corrections_Canada#Security_classification_of_offenders...
s in New York. In contrast, Christine Saum's 1994 survey of 101 inmates showed 5 had been sexually assaulted. One in ten male inmates is raped in prison, mostly by fellow prisoners. Among women the number is one in forty and the offenders are more likely to be prison staff members.
Prison rape cases have drastically risen in recent years, mostly attributed to an increase in counseling and reports. The threat of
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
, which affects many of those raped in prison, has also resulted in the increase of reported cases for the benefit of medical assistance.
Prison rape and sexuality
In prison rape, the perpetrator and victim are almost always the same sex (due to the gender-segregated nature of prison confinement). As such, a host of issues regarding
sexual orientationSexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender...
and gender roles are associated with the topic.
In U.S. male prisons, rapists generally identify themselves as heterosexual and confine themselves to non-receptive sexual acts. Victims, commonly referred to as "punks" or "bitches," may or may not be seen as homosexual. "Punks" is a term for those who are generally confined to performing receptive sexual acts. Moreover, though "punks" are coerced into a sexual arrangement with an aggressor in exchange for protection, these men generally consider themselves heterosexual.
Inmates who are
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
face further difficulties, and Stop Prisoner Rape asserts that such inmates are almost certain to be sexually assaulted in prison. Some prisons separate known homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender people from the general prison population to prevent rape and violence against them. Not surprisingly, many heterosexuals identify themselves to authorities as homosexuals so that they will be sent to the 'gay tank' where they will be protected from homosexual rape. There are, however, other methods to get oneself segregated from population, such as rule infractions or feigned suicide attempts. Other inmates have resorted to killing their rapist (or probable future rapist), particularly those who already have long sentences and are thus virtually immune from further legal consequences.
Shame regarding perceived homosexuality may contribute to the under-reporting of prison rape by victims. Prison rape statistics are much higher than reported, as many victims are afraid to report, being threatened with physical violence by rapists if reported, as well as staff indifference.
Federal Law
Public Law 108-79 was passed in the United States in 2003. According to
Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.,
Politics
Many human rights groups, such as the
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
and Stop Prisoner Rape, have cited documented incidents showing that prison staff tolerate rape as a means of controlling the prison population in general.
The topic of prison rape is relatively common in American humor. Jokes such as "don't drop the soap" seem to suggest that prison rape is an expected (or acceptable) consequence of being sent to prison. This phenomenon is exemplified by the 2006 U.S. feature film
Let's Go to PrisonLet's Go to Prison is an American dark comedy that was released in theatres November 17, 2006, starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride, and directed by Bob Odenkirk....
or the board game
Don't Drop the SoapDon't Drop the Soap is a controversial prison-themed board game, designed by art student John Sebelius as a class project at the Rhode Island School of Design.-Game:...
being marketed by John Sebelius, the son of
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
Governor
Kathleen SebeliusKathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services...
. Songs have also been composed about the topic, e.g. the song "Prisoner of Love" by radio personalities Bob and Tom, performing as "Slam and Dave". By contrast, prison rape is not a stock topic of jokes in most other Western cultures.
U.S. Federal law, under the
Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 is the first United States federal law passed dealing with the sexual assault of prisoners. The bill was signed into law on September 4, 2003.-Background:...
, calls for the compilation of national prison rape statistics, annual hearings by a review panel, and the provision of grants to the states to address prison rape. A first, highly-controversial and disputed study, funded under the PREA by Mark Fleisher, concludes prison rape is rare: "Prison rape worldview doesn't interpret sexual pressure as coercion," he wrote. "Rather, sexual pressure ushers, guides or shepherds the process of sexual awakening."
See also
- National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission was a U.S. bipartisan panel established by the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act. The commission was charged with studying sexual assaults in U.S. jails and prisons and presenting a report based on its findings. The report was released in June 2009...
- "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons is the title of an influential, book length, 2001 report by Human Rights Watch on prison rape in the United States...
"
- Types of rape
Rape can be categorized in different ways: for example, by reference to the situation in which it occurs, by the identity or characteristics of the victim, and/or by the identity or characteristics of the perpetrator...
- Prison sexuality
Prison sexuality deals with sexual relationships between confined individuals or those between a prisoner and a prison employee . Since prisons are separated by gender, most sexual activity is conducted with a same-sex partner, often in contradiction to a person's normal social sexual orientation...
External links