4 ms·

Why We Let Prison Rape Go On

25 points by klenwell 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Devthrowaway80 12y ago
Americans as a group seem to view ever-harsher conditions in prison and after release as being a necessary disincentive for criminal behaviour. Sexual assault in prison and its tacit support amongst the general population seems to me to just be another part of this "hang em high" mentality - how often do you hear people joking about dropping the soap or "sharing a cell with Bubba" when talking about criminals? The fact that this sort of approach to criminality drives up recidivism does not ever seem to enter the conversation, with the possible exception of places like HN or Metafilter or other liberal-by-American-standards forums.
- brandonmenc 12y ago
  Most people aren't ever arrested, so they mistakenly believe that prison violence only happens to murderers and rapists. They don't understand that your teenage son can get raped while in an overnight holding cell for unpaid parking tickets (yes, this has actually happened.)
- cschneid 12y ago
  It even happened the other night on The Nightly Show - an otherwise wildly liberal show opened their panel with a recommendation that Tsarnaev should be raped in prison. The amount of vengeance in the american system, at the total exclusion of anything else disgusts me. See-also the torture that is super-max [1]. [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-t...
  - formulaT 12y ago
    White males being raped in prison does not figure very high in the liberal agenda. The prison rape elimination act was a result of lobbying by conservative and Christian groups.
- daniel-cussen 12y ago
  Additionally, prison rape actually makes a prison stay easier for those who benefit from it––the rapists themselves, who are generally much more hardened criminals than their victims.
chinathrow 12y ago
This - and why do you let unjustified highest incarceration rates go on?

25 points by klenwell 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Americans as a group seem to view ever-harsher conditions in prison and after release as being a necessary disincentive for criminal behaviour. Sexual assault in prison and its tacit support amongst the general population seems to me to just be another part of this "hang em high" mentality - how often do you hear people joking about dropping the soap or "sharing a cell with Bubba" when talking about criminals? The fact that this sort of approach to criminality drives up recidivism does not ever seem to enter the conversation, with the possible exception of places like HN or Metafilter or other liberal-by-American-standards forums.

brandonmenc 12y ago
Most people aren't ever arrested, so they mistakenly believe that prison violence only happens to murderers and rapists. They don't understand that your teenage son can get raped while in an overnight holding cell for unpaid parking tickets (yes, this has actually happened.)
cschneid 12y ago
It even happened the other night on The Nightly Show - an otherwise wildly liberal show opened their panel with a recommendation that Tsarnaev should be raped in prison. The amount of vengeance in the american system, at the total exclusion of anything else disgusts me. See-also the torture that is super-max [1]. [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-t...
- formulaT 12y ago
  White males being raped in prison does not figure very high in the liberal agenda. The prison rape elimination act was a result of lobbying by conservative and Christian groups.
daniel-cussen 12y ago
Additionally, prison rape actually makes a prison stay easier for those who benefit from it––the rapists themselves, who are generally much more hardened criminals than their victims.

chinathrow 12y ago

This - and why do you let unjustified highest incarceration rates go on?