THE RAPE CRISIS BEHIND BARS By Stephen Donaldson - Texas ...

psychological treatment, to erupt in violence once they return to their communities. Some
will become rapists, seeking to `regain their manhood' through the same violent means by
which they believe it was lost.
In this way, our prisons, jails and detention centers can set in motion a truly vicious cycle,
turning nonviolent detainees and minor offenders into far more serious dangers to society
-- exactly the opposite function our `correctional institutions' are supposed to serve. Even
an attempted sexual attack that is warded off -- a typical experience for a `fresh fish,' or
first-time prisoner -- can be severely traumatic, besides being a chief cause of serious
injury behind bars.
While prison officials privately concede the existence of this widespread pattern of abuse,
prisoner victims are ignored in national rape statistics and estimates, and little has been
done to stop the attacks. A primary reason is that the rape of men has long been a taboo
subject, frightening victims away from even acknowledging that they have been attacked
and asking for help.
While some prison system professionals want to address the problem, most prefer to
ignore it; no doubt many see it as a public relations embarrassment rather than the
life-and-death issue it has become in the age of AIDS.
The public and the media, however, are finally becoming more sensitive to sexual abuse
behind bars and more willing to break through these old taboos. The courts are also
beginning to prod wardens and sheriffs to protect the prisoners.
In Jul [1993], for example, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld
an injunction that required the Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade, Fla., to
establish a training program to educate its staff about prisoner rape. The program is the
first of its kind in the country.
And on Jan. 12 [1994], the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Farmer v.
Brennan, in which a prisoner sued Federal prison officials for failing to prevent his rape.
Another approach to prisoner rape was launched this summer when the Safer Society
Press of the New York State Council of Churches published the Prisoner Rape Education
Project, a manual and two audiotapes of practical advice for pfisoners and staff on
avoidance and survival of prisoner rape.
One [of -- sic] the manual's most important recommendations is that condoms, now
available in New York City jails but still contraband in the New York State system, be
made available to victims of rape who have paired off with stronger prisoners for their
own protection, as most of them do, so that these victims can avoid turning
survival-driven sex from a degrading necessity into a possible death penalty.
Rape, which no judge has ever declared a fit penalty for a crime, is inflicted daily on