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

Prisoners refer to the new inmates as ―fresh meat‖ and often refer to the initial rape as turning out
the victim. Following the abuse, the victim loses all credibility and most importantly his ―manhood‖. The
victim is now labeled as weak, inferior, and is considered a female in the eyes of all inmates. If the victim
does not retaliate he becomes a mark or marked, and is subject to rape by all inmates. The prisoners who
are unable to escape the grasp of sexual abuse find themselves being identified as inmate‘s property.
The word inmate‘s property commonly used in prison to refer to sexually subordinate
inmates, and it is no exaggeration. Victims of prison rape, in the most extreme cases, are
literally the slaves of the perpetrators. Forced to satisfy another man‘s sexual appetites
whenever he demands, they may also be responsible for washing his clothes, massaging
his back, cooking his food, cleaning his cell, and myriad other chores. They are
frequently a rented out for sex, sold, or even auctioned off to other inmates, replicating
the financial aspects of traditional slavery. Their most basic choices, like how to dress
and whom to talk to, may be controlled by the person who owns them. Their name may
be replaced by a female one. Like all forms of slavery, these situations are among the
most degrading and dehumanizing experiences a person can undergo (Cronan, P. John
and Man, D. Christopher).
While incarcerated, male prisoners are stripped of the most traditional means of asserting their
masculinity and, consequently, turn to intimidation and aggression‖ (Cronan, P. John and Man, D.
Christopher). In a male based environment everyone wants to be the alpha male, and the path to obtaining
this dominance is by way of sexual assault. A Texas inmate stated…
While incarcerated, the inmates lack a female population as an object for their dominance
and aggressions, so they turn to males. Prison rapists rewrite their previous conception of
homosexual behaviors into an acceptable masculine role, which is highly physical and
powerful, and transform their male victims into surrogates for women (Arthur J. Lurigio,
Davis, C Robert and Susan Herman).
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