No Escape: Male Rape In U.S. Prisons

"I've been sentenced for a D.U.I. offense. My 3rd one. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly none of this. I'm a tall white male, who unfortunately has a small amount of feminine characteristics. And very shy. These characteristics have got me raped so many times I have no more feelings physically. I have been raped by up to 5 black men and two white men at a time. I've had knifes at my head and throat. I had fought and been beat so hard that I didn't ever think I'd see straight again. One time when I refused to enter a cell, I was brutally attacked by staff and taken to segragation though I had only wanted to prevent the same and worse by not locking up with my cell mate. There is no supervision after lockdown. I was given a conduct report. I explained to the hearing officer what the issue was. He told me that off the record, He suggests I find a man I would/could willingly have sex with to prevent these things from happening. I've requested protective custody only to be denied. It is not available here. He also said there was no where to run to, and it would be best for me to accept things . . . . I probably have AIDS now. I have great difficulty raising food to my mouth from shaking after nightmares or thinking to hard on all this . . . . I've laid down without physical fight to be sodomized. To prevent so much damage in struggles, ripping and tearing. Though in not fighting, it caused my heart and spirit to be raped as well. Something I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for."

The letter excerpted above was one of the first to reach Human Rights Watch in response to a small announcement posted in Prison Legal News and Prison Life Magazine, two publications with a wide audience in U.S. prisons. Having been alerted to the problem of prisoner-on-prisoner rape in the United States by the work of activists like Stephen Donaldson of the organization Stop Prisoner Rape, we had decided to conduct exploratory research into the topic and had put a call out to prisoners for information. The resulting deluge of letters--many of which included compelling firsthand descriptions such as this--convinced us that the issue merited urgent attention. Rape, by prisoners' accounts, was no aberrational occurrence; instead it was a deeply-rooted, systemic problem. It was also a problem that prison authorities were doing little to address.

The present report--the product of three years of research and well over a thousand inmate letters--describes the complex dynamics of male prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse in the United States. The report is an effort to explain why and how such abuse occurs, who commits it and who falls victim to it, what are its effects, both physical and psychological, how are prison authorities coping with it and, most importantly, what reforms can be instituted to better prevent it from occurring.

This report is limited in scope to male prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse in the United States. It does not cover women prisoners, nor does it cover the sexual abuse of male prisoners by their jailers. Human Rights Watch investigated the problem of custodial sexual misconduct in U.S. women's prisons in two previous reports and the issue has been a continuing focus of our U.S. advocacy efforts. As to custodial sexual misconduct against male prisoners, we decided not to include that topic within the scope of this report even though some prisoners who claimed to have been subject to such abuse did contact us. An initial review of the topic convinced us that it involved myriad issues that were distinct from the topic at hand, which is complicated enough in itself.

Even though the notices that Human Rights Watch circulated to announce our research on prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse were written in gender-neutral language, we received no information from women prisoners regarding the problem. As prison experts are well aware, penal facilities for men and women tend to differ in important respects. If the problem of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse exists in women's institutions--a possibility we do not exclude--it is likely to take somewhat different forms than in men's prisons.

For several reasons, the primary focus of this report is on sexual abuse in prisons, rather than jails. Most importantly, all of our information save a handful of letters came from prison as opposed to jail inmates. Many of these prisoners did, however, describe sexual abuses they had suffered when previously held in jails, allowing us to gather some information on the topic. Nonetheless, the bulk of our prisoner testimonies and documentation--and all of the information we collected from state authorities--pertain specifically to prisons. Already, with fifty separate state prison jurisdictions in the United States, the task of collecting official information was difficult; obtaining such information from the many thousands of local authorities responsible for city and county jails would have been infinitely more so. Yet we should emphasize that our lack of specific research on jails should be not interpreted as suggesting that the problem does not occur there. Although little research has been done on sexual assault in jails, the few commentators who have examined the topic have found the abuse to be similarly or even more prevalent there.

It is evident to Human Rights Watch, even without having completed exhaustive research into the jail context, that the problems we describe with regard to prisons generally hold true for jails as well. This conclusion derives from the fact that most of the risk factors leading to rape exist in prisons and jails alike. We therefore believe that our recommendations for reform are largely applicable in the jail context, and we urge jail authorities to pay increased attention to the issue of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse.

While this report does not deal specifically with juvenile institutions, we note that previous research, while extremely scanty, suggests that inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse may be even more common in juvenile institutions than it is in facilities for adults. Indeed, a case filed recently by the U.S. Justice Department in federal court to challenge conditions in a Louisiana juvenile institution includes serious allegations of inmate-on-inmate rape.

Finally, our choice of U.S. prisons as the subject of this research, over prisons elsewhere in the world, in no way indicates that we believe the problem to be unique to the United States. On the contrary, our international prison research convinces us that prisoner-on-prisoner rape is of serious concern around the world. We note that several publications on human rights or prison conditions in other countries have touched on or explored the topic, as have past Human Rights Watch prison reports.(8) Interestingly, researchers outside of the United States have reached many of the same conclusions as researchers here, suggesting that specific cultural variables are not determinative with regard to rape in prison.(9)

The report is primarily based on information collected from over 200 prisoners spread among thirty-seven states. The majority of these inmates have been raped or otherwise sexually abused while in prison, and were therefore able to give firsthand accounts of the problem. Numerous inmates who were not subject to sexual abuse also provided their views on the topic, including information about sexual assaults that they had witnessed. A very small number of inmates who had themselves participated in rape also contributed their perspectives. Much of the information was received via written correspondence, although Human Rights Watch representatives spoke by telephone with a number of prisoners, and personally interviewed twenty-six of them. Prisoner testimonies were supplemented by documentary materials such as written grievances, court papers, letters, and medical records.

Prisoners were contacted using several different methods. Human Rights Watch posted announcements in a number of publications and leaflets that reach prisoners--including Prison Legal News, Prison Life Magazine (which has since ceased publication), and Florida Prison Legal Perspectives--informing them that we were conducting research on the topic of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse and that we welcomed their information. Several organizations that work with prisoners, including Stop Prisoner Rape, put us in contact with additional inmates.

The prisoners who collaborated in our efforts were thus a largely self-selected group, not a random sampling. Previous researchers have conducted quantitative studies using statistically valid techniques in certain U.S. prisons -- most recently, in 1998 in seven midwestern state prison systems -- but, given that there are some two million prisoners in the United States, this would be difficult to achieve on a national scale. The research on which the present report was based was thus qualitative in nature: it sought to identify systemic weaknesses rather than to quantify actual cases of abuse. The result, we believe, sketches the outlines of a national problem, bridging the gap between academic research on the topic and the more anecdotal writings that occasionally appear in the popular press.

The prisoners with whom Human Rights Watch was in contact, we should emphasize, did not simply serve as a source of case material. Rather, their comments and insights--based on firsthand knowledge and close observation--inform every page of the report.

Besides prisoners, we also obtained valuable information from prison officials, prison experts, lawyers who represent prisoners, prisoners rights organizations, and prisoners' relatives. Written materials including academic studies, books, and articles from the popular press supplemented these sources. In addition, Human Rights Watch conducted an extensive review of the case law relevant to prison rape in the United States.

I have always stated that a prisoner has no rights except the right not to be raped while incarcerated.

We have to realise that these animals who perform these rapes are less than human.

These people who rape these other prisoners do not consider themselves as homosexuals. They are just animals who dont care what they have sex with. If there were other animals around they would have sex with them. These are the people that Democrats want to give the vote to.

This is an abomination. As I stated before . television, weight lifting basketball,a law library, a prisoner isnt entitled to any of these IMO. But a prisoner is entitled to serve his time without being molested either individually or in gangs. If the guards cant stop it then they should lock down the prison until they can. Male rape is a killing offense as far as I am concerned, any man who kills a person who raped him would not be convicted by me.

Posted by Arrogant Bustard:

1) When we incarcerate folks, we assume responsibility for their safety. Like it or not, like them or not. Since no jurisdiction in these United States statutorily imposes rape as a punishment for any crime, we have a responsibility to ensure that our prisoners are not the victims of rape.
2) Prison is supposed to be a punishment, not a playground for violent perverts. When we allow prisoners to engage in serial rape, we are failing in our duty to impose on them the punishment prescribed for their crimes. The inmates are NOT supposed to be running the institution.

Pretty much says it all, IMO.

the State has an obligation to ensure that you are not beaten, raped, or murdered while in its custody.

Right. For Pete's sake they'll swab your arm before they give you the lethal injection to make sure you don't get an infection but they won't keep you from getting another kind of injection if you're not on death row?

Prison rape is a scandal. Politicians do not act on this because there is little political hay to be made from telling constituents that they are "experts in prison rape."

You are very wrong.

If I'm wrong and it's very easy for 100% innocent people to be sent to prison please prove that. If a large number of people in prison are innocent then something needs to be done about that. So please, show me how I'm wrong.

I used to be in a prison ministry band.

If I ever found myself at risk of going to prison, I would consider living on the street in Mexico City, unable to speak spanish, to be a better fate.

If you get my drift...

Everyone knows that this goes on. It is not stopped. Therefore the authorities consent to it.
The courts do not explicitely sentence anyone to 5 years of rape in prison. However it is an unavoidable consequence of being in prison. Therefore the courts sentence people to rape in prison and consent to it.

If indeed rape in prison is the intention and purpose of sentencing, as a few posters' comments indicate, then it must be put into the law explicitly. To do what is done now is cowardly and the entire criminal justice system is complicit.

Personally, I'd consider quitting the booze.

Yes, he should quit the booze, but the inmate was sentenced to jail, not continual forced homosexual sodomy. It is unjust what happens in prisons, and Americans should care more.

8"x8" cells. No personal effects. Toilet and concrete cot, only.

8-inch by 8-inch cells?

Man, you'd be one tough warden ;-)

>>The part in bold may be one of the dumber things I've ever seen posted here.<<

Actually, it is a very accurate statement. Odds are you won't be, but odds are you won't be killed in a car accident either. It's just about as preventable.

"Is is possible for innocent people to be jailed? Yep! Is it "very easy"? Nope. If it was most people in jail would be innocent. "

Depends on the prosecutor.

"Again, it was a dumb thing to say."

No it wasn't a dumb thing to say. He gave an example of what happens. Note the words "very easy", refers to process, not quantity. Next time, don't be so stupid.

Easy to say from the safety of your comfy computer chair.

Not at all. Survival isn't the most important thing. I am not afraid of death. I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Living and dying as a man of God is the most important thing. If they are able to overcome me and kill me, so be it. If some of them are killed in the struggle, then we'll be heading different directions on our way to eternity. I know which direction I am going.

it is very easy to end up in slam in the United States, even if you're 100% innocent.

Happened to a friend ,,by trumped up charges brought on by a vindictive,coniving female..

The Man will pay for the rest of his Life...so don't tell us here that it can't happen..!

When we "don't give a damn" the results that accrue are results we agree with, by default, because "we don't give a damn".

All criminals deserve just punishment and I have no sympathy for complaints against a just punishment. Rape is not a just punishment. I cannot condone it or stand back and not complain about it nor stand lacking in sympathy and compassion for those abused by rape in prison. Maybe you believe rape is their due just because they are in prison. I do not find anything rational, conservative or moral in that position.

Nope, he didn't deserve to be gang raped BUT!!! Drinking and driving is premeditated murder. If you get home without killing someone then you are lucky but it will catch up with you one day. It's a VERY serious crime, one of the more callous, in my opinion.

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