Christopher Glazer takes to N+1 magazine to argue that we should Raise the Crime Rate.
Statistics are notoriously slippery, but the figures that suggest that violence has been disappearing in the United States contain a blind spot so large that to cite them uncritically, as the major papers do, is to collude in an epic con. Uncounted in the official tallies are the hundreds of thousands of crimes that take place in the country’s prison system, a vast and growing residential network whose forsaken tenants increasingly bear the brunt of America’s propensity for anger and violence.
Crime has not fallen in the United States—it’s been shifted. Just as Wall Street connived with regulators to transfer financial risk from spendthrift banks to careless home buyers, so have federal, state, and local legislatures succeeded in rerouting criminal risk away from urban centers and concentrating it in a proliferating web of hyperhells. The statistics touting the country’s crime-reduction miracle, when juxtaposed with those documenting the quantity of rape and assault that takes place each year within the correctional system, are exposed as not merely a lie, or even a damn lie—but as the single most shameful lie in American life.
From 1980 to 2007, the number of prisoners held in the United States quadrupled to 2.3 million, with an additional 5 million on probation or parole.
Victims in juvenile facilities, or facilities for women, have an even tougher time: usually it’s the guards, rather than the inmates, who coerce them into sex. The guards tell their victims that no one will believe them, and that complaining will only make things worse. This is sound advice: even on the rare occasions when juvenile complaints are taken seriously and allegations are substantiated, only half of confirmed abusers are referred for prosecution, only a quarter are arrested, and only 3 percent end up getting charged with a crime.
In January, prodded in part by outrage over a series of articles in the New York Review of Books, the Justice Department finally released an estimate of the prevalence of sexual abuse in penitentiaries. The reliance on filed complaints appeared to understate the problem. For 2008, for example, the government had previously tallied 935 confirmed instances of sexual abuse. After asking around, and performing some calculations, the Justice Department came up with a new number: 216,000. That’s 216,000 victims, not instances. These victims are often assaulted multiple times over the course of the year. The Justice Department now seems to be saying that prison rape accounted for the majority of all rapes committed in the US in 2008, likely making the United States the first country in the history of the world to count more rapes for men than for women.
America’s prison system is a moral catastrophe. The eerie sense of security that prevails on the streets of lower Manhattan obscures, and depends upon, a system of state-sponsored suffering as vicious and widespread as any in human history. Dismantling the system of American gulags, and holding accountable those responsible for their operation, presents the most urgent humanitarian imperative of our time.
Progressives lament the growth of private prisons (prisons for profit). But it’s sadism, not avarice, that fuels the country’s prison crisis. Prisoners are not the victims of poor planning (as other progressive reformers have argued)—they are the victims of an ideological system that dehumanizes an entire class of human being and permits nearly infinite violence against it. As much as a physical space, prisons denote an ethical space, or, more precisely, a space where ordinary ethics are suspended. Bunk beds, in and of themselves, are not cruel and unusual. University dorms have bunk beds, too. What matters is what happens in those beds. In the dorm room, sex, typically consensual. In prisons, also sex, but often violent rape. The prisons are “overcrowded,” we are told (and, in fact, courts have ruled). “Overcrowding” is a euphemism for an authoritarian nightmare.
While the attempt to count the number of rapes in America’s prisons is new, the problem is not. Alas, it’s one quite unlikely to go away because the overwhelming majority of Americans are perfectly happy to shift the risk of violent crime off our streets and out of our neighborhoods and into walled communities where people regarded as little more than vicious animals are housed. That they face a good chance of being raped while there is variously seen as fodder for jokes, the wicked getting their just desserts, or collateral damage. It’s virtually inconceivable that political will to do something about the problem will coalesce any time soon. via Jimmy Gerrond
So where can a guy get a whistle around here? Would a slide whistle in my pocket be counter productive? I'm generally not a fan of gym whistles. I wanna sound like I'm being raped, not like...hmm. No wait, it does kinda work. False starts, unnecessary roughness, intentional grounding, roughing the passer, horse collar, out of bounds, high sticking, offsides, encroachment... yeah.
Random fun fact about arbor? The first press conference I ever did was with AI in collaboration with Stop Prisoner Rape about this very issues. Ohio was only the second place in the nation (at that point in time 2004, maybe) where prison officials had come forward to state that sexual assault actually WAS happening. Any guesses as to the first place? I think you'll be shocked when you find out....
I still don't know if this article is accurate in terms of numbers, but I do think that rape inside of correctional institutions is an issue that isn't addressed at all in the way that in needs to be.
This is a problem I've never thought of, but I'm completely saddened by it. Especially for those in juvenile facilities. Not only are they facing their own issues, but having to deal with being victimized on top of that. It's no wonder many of them come out more hardened and angry.
Random fun fact about arbor? The first press conference I ever did was with AI in collaboration with Stop Prisoner Rape about this very issues. Ohio was only the second place in the nation (at that point in time 2004, maybe) where prison officials had come forward to state that sexual assault actually WAS happening. Any guesses as to the first place? I think you'll be shocked when you find out....
Random fun fact about arbor? The first press conference I ever did was with AI in collaboration with Stop Prisoner Rape about this very issues. Ohio was only the second place in the nation (at that point in time 2004, maybe) where prison officials had come forward to state that sexual assault actually WAS happening. Any guesses as to the first place? I think you'll be shocked when you find out....
Texas?
Winner winner chicken dinner.
Other fun fact? I got to be called a liar on regional news by the head of Ohio's prison system after that conference. Good times, good times...
Look how many people hope that Sandusky receives some of this style of "justice" when he goes to jail. And no one has said anything in any post along the same lines about how wrong it is to wish rape on someone as punishment. So where is the line?
Look how many people hope that Sandusky receives some of this style of "justice" when he goes to jail. And no one has said anything in any post along the same lines about how wrong it is to wish rape on someone as punishment. So where is the line?
I'm not at all surprised rape is a problem in prisons. Just like I'm not surprised that the American public doesn't really give a shit about it. Most people figure they're in jail for a reason, if they were a good person they'd be out on the street, so who cares if some prisoner gets buggered every now and then. If you don't want to get raped, don't break the law. Sad but true.
Exactly. I work in the criminal justice system and its so frustrating to have conversations with anyone regarding (for example) the difficulty of felons to get a job after getting out, or education, or rehab, because the response is always "well, they should have thought of that before they committed X crime."
I'm not at all surprised rape is a problem in prisons. Just like I'm not surprised that the American public doesn't really give a shit about it. Most people figure they're in jail for a reason, if they were a good person they'd be out on the street, so who cares if some prisoner gets buggered every now and then. If you don't want to get raped, don't break the law. Sad but true.
Exactly. I work in the criminal justice system and its so frustrating to have conversations with anyone regarding (for example) the difficulty of felons to get a job after getting out, or education, or rehab, because the response is always "well, they should have thought of that before they committed X crime."
Exactly. If they don't wanna get raped, they should behave in a way that keeps the rapers away. They asked for it.
Exactly. I work in the criminal justice system and its so frustrating to have conversations with anyone regarding (for example) the difficulty of felons to get a job after getting out, or education, or rehab, because the response is always "well, they should have thought of that before they committed X crime."
Exactly. If they don't wanna get raped, they should behave in a way that keeps the rapers away. They asked for it.
At least we can conclude from this article that that attitude towards rape isn't unique to female rape victims. So... we can take comfort in the fact that victim blaming is just something people WANT to do when they hear about someone being raped? Don't you all feel comforted? Is comforted the word I'm looking for? :-(
I think when people think of prison rape, they think of, say, Jerry Sandusky and so they shrug and say, well, who gives a shit? They don't think of the victims being someone who's in prison for selling a bag of marijuana or stealing a car.
Plus I think the idea of men being raped makes people very very uncomfortable so they'd prefer to make jokes about it or ignore it entirely.
Plus I think the idea of men being raped makes people very very uncomfortable so they'd prefer to make jokes about it or ignore it entirely.
Seems the idea of anyone being raped makes people uncomfortable. Unfortunately, said jokes only go tolerated when it's about men. Granted, its funnier that way.
This is fundamentally a feminist/gender issue, really.
Dammit BB. I was almost totally on board with your response. Then you had to go and say that.
The whole fucking point is that rape is not a feminist issue. I'll grant you that it could be seen as a gender stereotype or perhaps "patriarchal society" issue, but really? This has ZERO to do with feminism. Can we please stop conflating these issues? They are not the same.
This is fundamentally a feminist/gender issue, really.
Dammit BB. I was almost totally on board with your response. Then you had to go and say that.
The whole fucking point is that rape is not a feminist issue. I'll grant you that it could be seen as a gender stereotype or perhaps "patriarchal society" issue, but really? This has ZERO to do with feminism. Can we please stop conflating these issues? They are not the same.
I'm team bunnybean here.
I think there's a lot of fundamental misunderstanding of what feminism is about. Feminism deals with oppression in all forms, not just patriarchy.
Man on man rape has nothing to do with women. It has to do with men alone. Yes, surely there are gender stereotype issues at play with the way man on man rape is viewed, as do many aspects of feminism, but manrape has nothing to do with the rights of women.
Yes, it's a feminist issue. It may be better to discuss it as gender politics, but arbor is right that feminism and feminist issues are misunderstood. Rape isn't about "women's rights," it's about overpowering someone.
In this scenario, men who are raped are made "into women." It is unspeakable. Just like gay men who have sex consensually, they are becoming less men and more women by having sex with other men. Because female is societally inferior, that's what makes this an issue.
I think there is a real case to be made that gender politics and "female inferiority" is the root of many of these issues. And people who hate prisoners want them to be "made more female" with rape.
Female rape can be a feminist issue all the live long day, but you are not going to twist man on man prison rape around to be about anything more than a dude getting a dick up his ass. Sure there are many reasons why prison rape is far less maligned than other rape, but to take it to a level where it comes down to men being seen as women, therefore inferior, therefore OPPRESSION OF WOMEN is a huge stretch. And where did this gay comment come from? Is this 1955? Do the majority of people really think that consensual man on man sex make the dudes involved "more women"? Isn't that what a whole other letter in the acronym is for?
Also, what are "these issues" you are speaking of? People want prisoners raped because they want them to be women so they can be inferior? This doesn't even make any sense.
Well I like the way the rest of you are jumping on the asshole train too, but that comment was just for emmy. Perhaps it's too esoteric for emmy, because she seems to be deliberately obtuse.
ARBOR! COME BACK!
YOUR WORDS MAKE NO SENSE! How can anyone understand how gay sex makes men "more women" EXPLAIN IT, don't passive aggressively call me a retard!
There's probably a better way to say this, and I'll be back later, but this has got to be quick and dirty because I have a networking event to prepare for, and some resumes and cover letters to build.
What I think BB is getting at (and please feel free to step in and correct me at any point, Bunny) is that prison rape (which is largely male on male rape because of the demographics of the population, but not entirely) is a feminist issue because feminism isn't just about women. It's about women, but it's also about the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc. And male on male prison rape (not talking about consensual sex here) is largely a performance of power and masculinity by the rapist, and of a forceful feminization of the victim. And masculinity and femininity, and the performance of those two things, are most DEFINITELY feminist issues.
Again, I can go into more detail about this later, and we can talk more, but I really do need to go eat something, then go grab my suit from the dry cleaners, my shoes from the cobbler, and send out these two new job apps.