Coming
Soon!
From Common Courage Press
Recent
Stories
June
6, 2003
David
Krieger
The Big Lie
Ramzy
Baroud
Sharon and the Myth of the Peacemakers
Anthony
Gancarski
Sharansky: "Crucifixion is a Privilege"
Sam
Hamod
His Own Little Country
Sean Carter
Why Indict Martha Stewart and Not Ken Lay?
David
Lindorff
Cracks in the Consensus
Stew Albert
Ari's Great Set
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft the Insatiable
June
5, 2003
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Pools of Fire: The Looming Nuclear
Nightmare in the Woods of North Carolina
Imraan
Siddiqi
Ann Coulter's Foul Mouth
Michael
Leon
Clinton, Reno & Waco: Remember What They've Done
Robert
Jensen
Texas Pledge Law Undermines Democracy
Ann Harrison
Rosenthal is Free, But the Fight isn't Over
Paul
Dean
How You Can Be Deliriously Happy in the Age of Bush
Gary Leupp
When Spooks Speak Out
Website
of the Day
Evidence in Black and White?
June
4, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
Federal Judge Blinks; Rosenthal
Walks
Lisa
Walsh Thomas
The Isaiah Crowd: The Threat of Neo-Christianity
Jason
Leopold
Manufacturing the Iraq War
John Chuckman
Blackmail as Policy
Mazin
Qumsiyeh
Summit: Peace or Pretense?
Issam Nashashibi
Sharon's Sword of Damocles
Steve
Perry
Wolfowitz of Arabia: the VF interview transcript
June
3, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Copycat Killers: Bush, Jakarta and
the Slaughter in Aceh
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Tells All
Elaine
Cassel
We Interrupt Your Normal Show to Bring You an Important Message
from Michael Powell: "Go to Hell, Americans!"
Tom
Crumpacker
The Politics of US Cuba Policy
William
S. Lind
Fourth Generation Warfare in Iraq
Sam
Hamod
The Final Brick in the Wall
Uri
Avnery
The Altalena Affair
Hammond
Guthrie
Stepping into Some Deep DARPA
Steve
Perry
The WashTimes'
al-Qaeda nuke "exclusive"
June
2, 2003
Arundhati
Roy
Day of the Jackals
Norman
Madarasz
Behind the Neo-Con Curtain: Plato,
Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom
Alain
Frachon and Daniel Vernet
The Strategist and the Philosopher: Strauss and Wohlstetter
Anthony
Gancarski
Anti-Imperialism, Then & Now
Standard
Schaefer
Wasted at the Pentagon
Jason
Leopold
Rocky's Advice to the Dems
Guthrie
& Albert
HUAC 58 Years Letter
Steve
Perry
The Politics of Terror Alerts
May
31, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
A Whiner Called Horowitz
Gary Leupp
The Frauds of War
Dave
Lindorff
Clinton, Bush, Lies and Impeachment
Tom Stephens
Does It Matter that the Bush Administration Lied?
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Who Is Next?
Joanne
Mariner
Trivializing Terrorism
Wayne
Madsen
Ayatollah Ashcroft's Busy Week
Larry Magnuson
Is a Television a Radio or a Billboard?
Elaine
Cassel
Wake Up, America!
Gila Svirsky
Waiting for the Lament to End
Susan
Davis
Kitchen Dreams
Chris Clarke
Barbra Streisand: Environmental Hypocrite
Chris
Floyd
Bush Locates Source of World Evil: God
Adam Engel
Gravity's End Zone
Poets'
Basement
Reiss, Guthrie, Orloski, Albert
May
30, 2003
Ben
Tripp
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Agenda
Neve
Gordon
The Bad Fence
Todd
Steiner
Endangered Ocean
Robert
Freeman
Bush's Tax Cuts: a Form of National Insanity
Sean
Carter
Utah Gets Fired Up for Executions
Daniel
Bacher
How Bush's War Violated International Laws
Tariq
Ali
Re-Colonizing Iraq
Steve
Perry
Bush Wars
Web Log
May
29, 2003
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
Jacobs
Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
Ciaccorra
Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
Blaker
Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
Browne
Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
Albert
Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
Hot Stories
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
June
9, 2003
A Review
No Escape: Male
Rape in US Prisons
By ALEX COOLMAN
In April of 2001, Human Rights Watch released
a report called No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prison. The report,
written by human rights lawyer (and CounterPunch contributor)
Joanne Mariner, contains dozens of first-hand accounts of prisoner
rape and sexual assault, stories that are both horrifying and
sobering.
Some of the most frightening passages
in the book, though, are not in the main body of the text. They're
in the appendix, which features letters that state corrections
departments coughed up after Human Rights Watch requested information
about sexual assault behind bars.
In the appendix, the reader learns what
these corrections departments, despite countless stories of human
suffering to the contrary, are still saying about sexual assault.
From the Kentucky Department of Corrections:
"These  instances are very rare, (but)
... we do not maintain a central list of the disposition of these
cases."
From the Alaska Department of Corrections:
"We, luckily, have no need to keep statistics, as this has
not been a problem."
From the Connecticut Department of Corrections:
"Our department does not maintain statistics regarding inmate
on inmate rape or sexual abuse primarily because it is seldom
reported ...."
In state after state, the officials running
the prisons disavow any knowledge of a problem that, according
to the best research on the subject, affects as many as one in
five male prisoners.
For that reason, and many others, No
Escape is a wrenching book to read. It's also one of the most
in-depth, authoritative, and comprehensive books written on the
subject of prisoner rape. The book provides a review of the conditions
that contribute to prisoner rape--including the growth of the
American prison population in the last 20 years, the privatization
of the prison industry, and the crippling of prisoners' legal
rights through the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996.
No Escape also reviews some of the realities
of prisoner rape that are misunderstood by the public: that victims
tend to be nonviolent offenders, young people, and first-timers;
that victims are sometimes subjected to repeated abuse that can
last for years; and that rape victims contract diseases like
HIV and often suffer from crippling depression and post-traumatic
stress disorder.
All of these facts are brought to life
in No Escape through the inclusion of prisoners' first-hand accounts
of rape. Human Rights Watch quotes men like B.J. from Connecticut
(that peaceful state where rape is "seldom reported,"
according to the DOC) who describes being assaulted after he
was celled with a known rapist.
"I remained in shock and paralyzed
in thought for two days until I was able to muster the courage
to report it, this the most dreadful and horrifying experience
of my life," B.J. writes.
Then there are prisoners like M.P. from
Arkansas, who describes submitting to life as a sexual slave
for another prisoner, and S.H., from Texas, who was rented out
for sexual favors. S.H. filed five grievances, eight appeals
and a federal lawsuit in an attempt to get some relief for his
situation. He was denied any remedy, every step of the way.
That institutional indifference to the
problem of sexual assault behind bars is documented in No Escape's
final chapter, where Mariner notes that "rape occurs in
U.S. prisons because corrections officials, to a surprising extent,
do little to stop it from occurring."
Even simple steps that could reduce the
likelihood of sexual assault--such as realistic prisoner orientation
programs and careful classification of prisoners by risk of victimization--are
relatively uncommon, Human Rights Watch reports. Prisoners' complaints
of rape are not taken seriously and avenues of legal redress
are typically blocked.
"Rape is not an inevitable consequence
of prison life, but it certainly is a predictable one if little
is done to prevent it and punish it," Mariner concludes.
The two years since No Escape was published
have seen a major surge of advocacy to address sexual assault
behind bars. No Escape was covered on the front page of the New
York Times, introducing many members of the public to a reality
they had never considered. Since then, publications such as the
Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Mother Jones,
and The Weekly Standard have also prominently covered the issue.
No Escape has served as a powerful resource
for Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR), the only national organization
solely devoted to ending sexual violence behind bars. Stop Prisoner
Rape had been around for more than 20 years before No Escape,
but the book's authoritative documentation of the problem has
proved to be a critical tool in SPR's arsenal.
Since the publication of No Escape, SPR
and Human Rights Watch have worked together (along with others)
to launch a listserv, sponsor a national conference, and lobby
for the first-ever federal legislation to address rape in prison,
known as the Prison Rape Reduction Act. In fact, No Escape was
cited during Congressional hearings on the bill. The legislation,
which is still pending, would authorize a study to document the
extent of the problem; and create a program of standards and
incentives to help corrections officials detect and prevent prisoner
rape.
For men and women behind bars, rape remains
a real threat. SPR continues to hear from prisoners every day
who are being victimized--prisoners who still face the kinds
of brutality documented in No Escape. SPR now offers survivors
of sexual assault a range of information and referrals, the chance
to post stories on its heavily trafficked website, and the opportunity
to speak out through contacts with reporters and researchers.
That's a powerful legacy for a single
book, but No Escape tells a powerful story. It's one we all need
to understand.
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons is available from Human Rights Watch for $25
plus $5 shipping and handling. Contact: Publications Department,
Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor New York, N.Y.
10118-3299. The report is available online at www.hrw.org.
Alex Coolman
is the Communications Coordinator for Stop
Prisoner Rape. SPR can be reached at 6303 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 204, Los Angeles, CA 90048.
Today's
Features
David
Krieger
The Big Lie
Ramzy
Baroud
Sharon and the Myth of the Peacemakers
Anthony
Gancarski
Sharansky: "Crucifixion is a Privilege"
Sam
Hamod
His Own Little Country
Sean Carter
Why Indict Martha Stewart and Not Ken Lay?
David
Lindorff
Cracks in the Consensus
Stew Albert
Ari's Great Set
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft the Insatiable
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|