Human Rights at Home and Abroad: Past, Present, and Future

Terrell McClure, Bloomsburg University
Sexual Abuse in Prison: Will it EVER be Considered a True Problem?
On August 9, 1973, Stephen Donaldson, a peace activist, was arrested for trespassing after
participating in a pray-in at the White House. After refusing to post bond, Donaldson was sent to jail in
Washington, D.C. In the days that followed, Donaldson experienced a terror that is far too common for
what could easily be every inmate in an American correctional facility. Human Rights Watch explained
his traumatic experience ―Throughout Donaldson‘s horrific two night stay behind bars, he was gang-raped
approximately sixty times by numerous inmates. Upon his release Donaldson relived the appalling events,
by being courageous and speaking out to the public. Donaldson was among the first survivors of jailhouse
rape to come forward publicly to describe his abuse, launching a personal crusade to save other inmates
from the sexual victimization. Stephen Donaldson contracted HIV through prison rape; and unfortunately
that was the cause of his death‖. If this happened to Donaldson it could happen to anyone behind bars. In
prisons across the nation, many inmates face parallel realities every day (Cronan, P. John and Man, D.
Christopher).
―Best estimates put the annual number of prison rapes at about 140,000, which is more than half
the amount of rapes of women reported to police‖. Prisoners maintain certain basic rights, which survive
despite the individual being incarcerated. ―Respect for one‘s bodily integrity; that is, not being assaulted
is such a fundamental right‖ (Lynne Rienner). Although this is a basic right that should be protected and
enforced inside prison walls, that is not always the case. In fact, sexual abuse within prison is a deed that
occurs more often than most citizens realize, yet it often goes unpunished; correspondingly this abuse
causes disease, fear, mental suffering, and in the most extreme cases death.
Most citizens don‘t know the severity of rape in prison; they may think prisoners exaggerate their
stories to obtain empathy. But as taxpaying, law abiding, U.S. citizens who have never even been
ticketed, why should we be concerned with the struggles of inmates; if there really are any? The prisoners
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