Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Inside
Prisoner Rape and the War on Drugs
A Publication of
STOP PRISONER RAPE
Stories from
Inside
Prisoner Rape and the War on Drugs
Introduction 3
Definition of Prisoner Rape 4
Methodology 4
Testimonies: Bryson Martel 5 • Hope Hernandez 6
Recommendations 46
Testimonies: Jami Naturalite 49 • Kobutsu Malone 50
Notes 52
Executive Summary
P
risoner rape is a human rights cri- violence behind bars as a result of the
sis of appalling magnitude. Accord- “war on drugs.” For more than three de-
ing to the best available research, cades, with its focus on long sentences for
as many as one in four female and one in drug offenses and limited judicial discre-
five male inmates experience sexual vio- tion to offer leniency, the war on drugs
lence while incarcerated. While anyone has been America’s primary response to
can be a victim of prisoner rape, inmates the problems of drug use and addiction.
convicted of a non-violent drug offense The financial and moral costs of these
typically possess characteristics that put drug policies have been substantial and
them at great risk for abuse. They tend well-publicized. Federal, state, and local
to be young, unschooled in the ways of governments have spent billions of dol-
prison life, and lacking the street smarts lars on the implementation of the war on
necessary to protect themselves from drugs. In the meantime, a majority of
other detainees. Americans have come to believe it is a
For survivors of prisoner rape, the losing cause.
physical and psychological effects are dev- The massive prison population growth
astating. In addition to physical injuries, caused by current U.S. drug policies has
many survivors contract HIV and other resulted in increasingly overcrowded de-
sexually transmitted diseases, are impreg- tention facilities, rife with idleness and
nated against their will, and suffer long- tension among inmates. With an aston-
term psychological harm. Once released, ishing 2.3 million people behind bars at
they bring all their prison experiences any given time, U.S. prisons and jails have
with them as they return home to their simply run out of bed space, leading non-
families and communities. violent detainees to be housed together
Every year, scores of non-violent men with predators in poorly monitored dor-
and women are placed at risk for sexual mitories or cramped cells. The swelling
Executive Summary 1
prison population also strains rehabilita- immediately separate perpetrators
tive services, rendering it impossible for from victims.
those struggling with drug addiction and
• Train corrections officials on how to
other problems to receive the treatment
prevent and respond to prisoner rape.
and counseling they need.
Prisoner rape is known to be a signifi- • Ensure that victimized inmates have
cant problem in U.S. prisons and jails— access to safe and effective medical
and the ways to prevent it are known as and mental health services that are
well. This report offers the following rec- not contingent upon filing a report.
ommendations that, if implemented, • Establish a confidential complaint
would significantly reduce sexual violence system that encourages reporting
behind bars. sexual violence without increasing
• Employ standardized classification the risk of future attacks or any other
systems that effectively separate form of retaliation.
likely rape victims from likely sexual • Reduce incarceration rates for people
predators. convicted of non-violent drug
• Provide vulnerable inmates with offenses.
voluntary, non-punitive protective • Utilize diversion programs and
housing. treatment services to address drug
• In the aftermath of an assault, addictions.
T
his report is one component of a media and advocacy campaign, Stories
from Inside, that seeks to draw attention to the relationship between cur-
rent U.S. drug policy and prisoner rape. This initiative is built around the
first-hand testimonies of men and women who were raped or sexually assaulted
while serving time for a non-violent drug charge.
It may take years or even decades before a survivor of prisoner rape is able to
talk about the sexual violence that he or she experienced behind bars, and some
are never able to do so. SPR applauds the courage of the survivors who told
their stories for use in this report, either “on the record” or anonymously. SPR
also thanks the Marijuana Policy Project for its generous support of the Stories
from Inside campaign.
Names in quotation marks in the testimony introductions indicate that a pseudonym was used at the
request of the survivor.
T
he U.S. is the world’s leading per- million drug arrests made in 2004, more
capita jailer, with some 2.3 million than 771,000 involved marijuana.5 Mari-
people incarcerated at any given juana arrests also accounted for more than
time.1 Among these inmates, a stagger- 80 percent of the increase in drug arrests
ing number experience sexual violence. between 1990 and 2002.6 More than
In fact, prisoner rape is arguably the most four-fifths of all drug arrests in that pe-
widespread and neglected form of human riod were for simple possession.7 In 2003,
rights abuse in the U.S. today. 89 percent of marijuana arrests were for
The war on drugs has directly contrib- possession, with no allegations of sale or
uted to the unconscionable rate of sexual trafficking.8
violence behind bars by causing prisons Despite a prison building boom span-
to become overcrowded with people con- ning nearly two decades, overcrowding
victed of non-violent drug offenses. At persists. Officials at many U.S. correc-
any given time, more than 500,000 people tions facilities have converted dining halls
are incarcerated on drug charges,2 with and gymnasiums into dormitories and are
thousands more non-violent individuals operating at almost double capacity. Se-
imprisoned on other drug-motivated vere overcrowding creates opportunities
crimes, such as property offenses and for predators, and the rapidly swelling
public order violations.3 Federal and state ranks of inmates with non-violent drug
governments pursue policies that incar- convictions are among the principal vic-
cerate low-level drug users and exacer- tims of sexual assault in prison. Many of
bate overcrowding. One in five state these inmates struggle to defend them-
inmates and nearly three in five federal selves in a hostile environment, even as
prisoners are serving a drug sentence.4 they cope with untreated drug addiction.
Drug enforcement personnel often focus As the stories that accompany this re-
on minor offenses. Of the nearly 1.75 port illustrate, people who are raped or
Introduction 3
coerced into sex behind bars are more of life. Some were high-school students,
than just numbers. They are individuals military veterans, or business owners be-
whose lives have been irreparably changed fore they were incarcerated. They have
by the sexual abuse they suffered while one thing in common—all were caught
incarcerated. They come from every walk in the web of the U.S. war on drugs.
L
ike all of Stop Prisoner Rape’s work, this report examines sexual violence
behind bars broadly, addressing sexual assault and harassment as well as
rape. While the term “prisoner” is typically used to describe a post-con-
viction inmate housed in a state or federal prison, and “rape” is often limited to
forced sexual intercourse, the phrase “prisoner rape” is used here to describe all
forms of sexual violence inflicted on anyone in custody, including someone
awaiting trial in a county jail.
Methodology
S
top Prisoner Rape receives letters daily from current and former inmates
who were sexually abused behind bars. In seeking survivors to share their
experiences for the Stories from Inside initiative, SPR contacted individuals
listed in its survivor database, advertised in a number of publications geared
toward prisoners, placed a link on its website inviting survivors to tell their
stories, asked allied organizations to place notices in their newsletters, and sent
letters to members of a prisoner mailing list. The brave individuals who are a
part of this project range from survivor advocates who have worked actively
with SPR for a number of years to people who heard about the project through
word-of-mouth at their facilities and are telling their stories for the very first
time in this report. While every survivor’s story is unique, the accounts in-
cluded here are representative of what SPR regularly hears from inmates around
the country.
W
hen I went to prison, people
You could have been in there
started preying on me. I started
getting attacked almost right for forgery and not even walk
away. I got jumped on in prison. I got beaten.
I had a knife pulled on me.
out alive.
I got sexually attacked too. You get la- not easy. I accept the fact that I’m going to
beled as a faggot if you get raped. If it gets die. They took my life.
out and then people know you have been They should have screened the inmates
raped, that opens the door for a lot of other that they put me in the cell with. Don’t put Bryson Martel,
predators. Anywhere I was, everybody looked me in a cell with murderers. You could have formerly known
at me like I was a target. been in there for forgery and not even walk as Kendell Spruce,
I wrote everything down and docu- out alive. I’ve seen guys get stabbed or killed is a 42-year-old
mented it. I filed grievances. I did all the pro- because of rape.
Michigan man
who went to live
cedures that I could do. I think that locking up people for drug
with his grand-
I fought. I deliberately disobeyed so I addiction is wrong. Putting everybody in prison mother as an
could run away from my predators. I deliber- for drug addiction causes overpopulation. infant when
ately caught charges. I went to the hole. They’re not getting any help in there. A lot of his parents
When they put you in the hole, it’s complete them need help. They have to learn to lead a abandoned him.
isolation. It was just so hard. productive life, to keep them from robbing, He grew up in
Eventually, they put me in protective cus- stealing, doing something self-destructive, to Arkansas,
tody. That didn’t work. I was raped there too. get some skills. All the things the prison
Michigan, and
California while
A lot of folks get into protective custody. They doesn’t do. You waste the taxpayer’s money.
being moved from
put me in a cell with a predator, a guy that The people who are out there raping and kill- relative to relative.
had full-blown AIDS. He attacked me. He ing people—those are the ones who need to He began using
made me perform oral sex and then he had be locked up. drugs at 12, after
anal sex with me against my will. There are so many predators in prison. I returning to his
You never forget. You never heal from it don’t care where you go—to Arkansas or mother’s home. He
emotionally. You might heal your body, but Memphis, California or New York, wherever became addicted
you will never get over it emotionally. That’s you go, you got the same aggressive preda-
to crack cocaine at
the age of 20 and
something that is stuck in you. I wake up with tors there. They do it in the county jail, too.
was sent to jail or
it on my mind. They robbed me of my manhood, my se- prison more than
I started getting sick. I started bleeding curity, serenity, all that. It’s horrifying to get 15 times over the
really bad from the rectum. That’s when I got robbed of all that. They didn’t take my pride, next decade. In
the devastating news. Then everything added because I hold my head up. But like I said, I 1993, he was
up. The guy that raped me in the cell had still think about it, it hurts. I try not to worry sentenced to jail
full-blown AIDS. about it. I try not to let my family worry, but in Arkansas for
I felt suicidal. I felt like my world had they do. They worry constantly.
forging a check to
buy crack cocaine.
come to an end. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, It’s awful that a person would have to go
Upon his release,
degraded, and humiliated. in and pay that price like that. I paid double Mr. Martel
Living with AIDS is an uphill battle. It’s price. That check I wrote cost me my life. violated the terms
of his probation
They robbed me of my manhood, my security, serenity, all that. and was sent
to prison.
Introduction 5
Testimony: Hope Hernandez
A
t first, I was only using heroin on do to me. I ended up sleeping a lot and I was
the weekends, but after a while, I kind of in a daze. I was wearing a paper
had to use it all the time. At first it jumpsuit that was really just a piece of gauze
was one bag a day, then it was two, and then with a zipper.
it was four, then it was 14, and by the time I I needed a shower. There was a sink and
finally got arrested, I was up to 20 bags or a toilet and a bed in the room, but no shower,
more a day if I could afford it. Affording it and they weren’t letting me out of my cell.
became the really hard part. We were steal- Every time a new guard would come on shift,
Hope Hernandez
is a 31-year-old ing property and selling it. I would ask for a shower. I was promised a
Washington, D.C. Eventually, I was indicted on 19 felony shower by guard after guard, but I never got
woman who charges and was arrested. I got stuck with all one.
was born to of these drug charges. I was buying dope for One night, in the middle of the night,
drug-addicted myself, for my own personal usage, but I this guard came into my cell and said I could
parents in a hippie helped this girl score one time, and they go take a shower. He had a towel and a fresh
commune in Hawaii.
charged me with distribution. paper jumpsuit and some shampoo. He led
Repelled by her
I was given a court date and released the me to a room with locked doors that had a
parents’ addiction,
she swore that she next day to go to rehab, but in rehab I got so separate bathroom and a shower. He waited
would never use ill from withdrawal that they took me back to out in the hallway.
drugs, but took her jail because they said they didn’t have the The light was kind of hurting my eyes so
first drink at a party medical facilities required to take care of me. I turned it off. I got undressed and into the
at 14 and began There were two jails in Washington shower, and he came in. The next thing I knew
smoking marijuana D.C.—the regular side and the privatized side. he was standing in the shower stall and was
and using LSD a few
The regular side is run by the city. They have a engaging in intercourse with me. He pulled
years later. She
unit where they put people with mental health down his pants and turned off the shower
began injecting
heroin at 19, and concerns. For some reason they kept shifting and raped me.
stopped using me back and forth, back and forth between I couldn’t do anything. It was like I was
drugs at 23. the regular side and the privatized side. on a 30-second delay. I was heavily medicated
Ms. Hernandez is They put me on some medications. I had and it was 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning. He
now a married no idea what they were or what they would had awoken me from a dead sleep.
mother of three
who recently
graduated from
college with highest I saw all this stuff about Abu Ghraib. People were outraged that
honors, and is
beginning a career this was happening overseas, but this is also happening in our
in social work.
nation’s capital. It’s happening to people who need drug
treatment. It’s happening to 19-year-old girls who have low self-
esteem. It’s happening to people who are arrested for the first time
after being completely strung out. This is happening in our country.
Introduction 7
Sexual Violence Behind Bars
in the U.S.
S
exual abuse behind bars is a wide- inmates and first-time offenders are par-
spread problem. Reliable estimates ticularly vulnerable. 13 Marginalized
of its incidence are difficult to ob- populations are among the most at risk
tain because of the lack of comprehen- for abuse. A study of one institution re-
sive research to date. The shortage of ported that 41 percent of gay inmates had
information is in part the result of the been sexually assaulted, a rate three times
challenges of collecting data in a climate higher than that for the institution over-
of fear of retaliation and stigma. The re- all.14 In addition, gay and transgender
search that has been completed, however, inmates often face even more institutional
suggests that as many as 20 percent of apathy than other prisoners when they re-
male prisoners have been pressured or co- port abuse. Many officers confuse homo-
erced into sex, and ten percent have been sexuality and transgender status for
raped. 9 In one women’s facility, more consent to rape, and therefore trivialize
than a quarter of the women studied said the claims by such inmates.
they had been pressured into sex.10 While Although there are many different
fear of future attacks causes many pris- prisoner rape scenarios, a majority of
oner rape survivors to remain silent about male victims are assaulted by one or sev-
their abuse, according to the Bureau of eral fellow inmates, often with the com-
Justice Statistics, more than 6,000 in- plicity of corrections staff. Survivors of
mates in adult prisons and jails filed re- prisoner rape are frequently marked by
ports of sexual violence in 2005 alone.11 other inmates as targets for further at-
Anyone can be a victim of rape behind tacks. 15 The abuse can be relentless,
bars, but typical male victims are young, sometimes occurring on a daily basis for
non-violent, first-time offenders who are weeks, months, or even years. Gang rapes
Congress found that, “[p]rison rape endangers the public safety by making
brutalized inmates more likely to commit crimes when they are released.”
I
n Sacramento, the deputies were letting shower when a deputy walked by. He just
inmates into my cell to have sex with me started laughing.
against my will. The first time it happened, Later, they moved me to a cell, and I was
I tried to tell the inmate no. He showed me so happy, because I thought I had escaped
some autopsy photos. He said, ‘This is what this inmate. Then they moved him into the
happens to people who fuck with me.’ cell with me. He did nothing but beat me and
rape me. When I finally got out of there, I had
two black eyes that were completely closed
[T]he deputies were letting up. I didn’t deserve this. Jackie Tates is a
In September 2005, I was put into a ‘pro- 39-year-old
inmates into my cell to have tective custody’ tank with five or six other in- transgender
woman who is
sex with me against my will. mates. Two of them jumped me right away.
currently being
They both made me suck them off. The deputy
held in a San
walked by and saw me fighting and strug- Bernardino,
I ended up submitting. I did what he told gling with them, but he didn’t do anything. California
me to do. I orally copulated him, and he The next day, the deputy made jokes about county jail. While
sodomized me. Thirty or forty minutes later, it. He asked me how much I charge for that. incarcerated on a
the deputy came onto the speaker and asked Gay people, transgender people in this probation violation
him if he was done. He said, ‘I’m done.’ The jail—they put us in compromising positions. in 1999, she wrote
a threatening
door clicked and let him out. They chain us to 12 inmates and throw us in
letter to the
They must have let 12 or 14 inmates into the back of a van with no supervision. People
governor of
my cell to have sex. One day, I said to a deputy, get dragged into bathrooms. One of my California. She was
‘If you’re going to make me do this, could I at friends got dragged into a bathroom—she found not guilty by
least have some condoms so I don’t get AIDS?’ walks with a walker now. reason of mental
He told me to shut the fuck up. The next day, The deputies call me names—they call me defect and was
he came in and threw 15 condoms at me. ‘it,’ and ‘he/she,’ and ‘punk’, and ‘faggot’. committed to a
Where I am now, it’s just as bad. They They whistle at me in the shower. They come mental hospital in
2003. A man who
have me in general population. I’ve asked over to my cell door asking to see my breasts.
visited her there
and over to be put on the unit with the gay Sometimes I want to die. I’m scared to
was found to be in
and transgender inmates, but I always get close my eyes at night. possession of
denied. marijuana, and Ms.
In September 2004, it was so crowded Tates was charged
here that they had us sleeping on pads on the Sometimes I want to die. with smuggling
floor of the day room. The inmate on the next drugs into a
pad over told me to come to the shower with
I’m scared to close my eyes correctional
facility, even
him, or he was going to slice me. I was afraid, at night. though the drugs
so I went with him. He was fucking me in the
were not intended
for her and the
two never made
contact.
W
hen I first went to prison, I was in a lot of pain and I was scared.
approached—I was one of the A few hours later, I took an overdose of
youngest inmates at the prison. The several hundred Tylenol. I refused to allow
majority of the inmates there were doing life them to pump my stomach. They took me to
sentences. At that particular time, a lot of the hospital. They forced me —there were four
people were getting viciously and seriously or five officers that held me down while the
hurt in the Texas prison system and even killed. doctor gave me some kind of injection to make
I was scared. I was 18 years old. So I felt me go to sleep. They pumped my stomach
Darryl Barnett is a
my only opportunity to survive was to pay for while I was unconscious.
39-year-old Texas
man serving protection so I wouldn’t get seriously hurt or The next day I woke up in intensive care.
a nine-year killed. I paid them my commissary as a means I felt really humiliated and disrespected and
sentence for drug to protect myself so I could eventually at some embarrassed. I felt anger. I was still suicidal. I
possession. His point get out of prison. told the doctor what had happened. The of-
drug use began at It helped me get out. But then I violated ficers that were at the hospital were making
13, when his uncles my parole and they sent me back to prison. I derogatory comments like, ‘Well, he should
introduced him
was being pressured to perform sexual acts have fought back if he didn’t want to get
to alcohol and
or to pay for protection. I refused to pay for raped.’
marijuana. By the
age of 16, he was protection. I thought they were bluffing. The doctor had me transferred to a psy-
injecting amphet- One particular evening, when they chiatric prison. I went before this committee
amines. He began opened the cell doors to allow the inmates to which consisted of a psychiatrist and two psy-
stealing from come out to the dining hall, I stayed in my cell chologists. They listen to your complaint and
stores and commit- to eat food from the commissary. When the determine if they are going to admit you into
ting credit card officers opened my cell door, a muscle-built the psychiatric prison hospital or not. They
fraud to support
guy who was doing a life sentence for aggra- decided not to admit me because they
his drug habit. His
vated rape came into my cell and tried to get thought that I was just making this up to get
trouble with the
law began at 16, me to jack him off. When I refused, he hit me attention or to get off that particular prison
when he was four or five times in my sternum, my ribs, and unit. They discharged me from what they call
arrested for my kidneys. Then, he raped me in the cell. observation crisis management and trans-
receiving stolen I did make an attempt to fight back, but ferred me back to the Huntsville unit.
property. At 18, he I was no match for this guy. I weighed about At that point, I was pretty determined to
was convicted of 165. He was about an inch or two taller than pursue my suicidal thoughts. Once I got to
fraud and sen-
me and I’d say he weighed about 220 or 230 the Huntsville unit and they placed me in a
tenced to three
pounds. cell, I took some razor blades and I tried to
years in prison. He
bounced in and He gave me body blows that literally put cut an artery in my neck. I cut several times.
out of prison on me to the ground. He grabbed me and put I intended to die. It was just too humili-
parole violations his arms around me and slammed me up ating. It just hurt too much to have to deal
for the next 15 against the bars and forced me down and with it, not being able to get no counseling,
years before being forced my pants off of me. At that point, my not being able to have anybody on the inside
convicted of a new sternum was cracked and my ribs were to help me deal with it and being turned down
drug possession
bruised. I felt like there was a possibility that by people who had the position and the abil-
charge in 2003.
he might kill me if I resisted. I’d seen what he ity to help me. It just hurt.
had done to me at first when I resisted. I was An inmate who was sweeping in front of
I
n 1991, I was on a paint crew. It was a boob. Every time I went to chow—breakfast,
big wide spread—it was miles long, lunch or dinner—I got singled out to be shook
and they would drop certain prisoners off down and my breasts were always squeezed
in one spot and tell them to paint. and my nipples pinched. It happened every
I was the last one, and the guard drove time I went to chow hall for years.
me outside the work area and told me that if
I didn’t give him oral sex, he would report me
as an escapee. There was a deputy who used
Robin McArdle is I did what I was told to do, because I
a 41-year-old to sell drugs to the girls and
wanted to go home. This was the first time I
Michigan mother
of two from an was in prison, and I didn’t know anything. I then threaten to go to the
upper-middle- performed oral sex because I didn’t want to
class home. She be charged with escape. My mind was some- parole board if they didn’t suck
was molested by where else the whole time. When I got back
a family member to my unit, I cried and cried.
his dick.
from age six to The next morning, I refused to go to
12. She began to work—I couldn’t go back out there again. I The officers would walk in on the girls
use powdered
was afraid it was going to happen again. I when they were taking showers because there
cocaine at 19,
was afraid it was going to happen every day. were no curtains. They would stand there and
and quickly
turned to I was disciplined because I refused to go back watch girls in the shower. It made you feel
freebasing and out and work on his crew. like a piece of meat.
then crack co- Three years later, in 1994, an officer There was a deputy who used to sell
caine. She was would come into my room and he would grab drugs to the girls and then threaten to go to
sent to prison for my breast and grab my ass and put his hands the parole board if they didn’t suck his dick.
the first time at on my pussy and squeeze. He did this every He knew if you were dirty, and if he turned
26 for possession
day for about a week, until one day he went you in, you would have to spend another year
of stolen goods.
down in my pants and was rubbing and grind- in prison.
She went in and
out of prison for ing himself against my ass with his privates. There was a woman who was two doors
11 years, and was He inserted his fingers in me. That was the down from me—I used to see an officer go
sexually abused final straw. into her room and shut the door behind him.
by corrections I just couldn’t take it anymore, and we They had sex in her room—she would tell me
officials on fought. A witness came forward. I wasn’t about it later.
two separate going to say anything because he kept telling For me, being sexually abused as a child
occasions.
me, ‘You are the one locked up. It is my word made me an easy target. It is in our file, and
against yours.’ I was afraid. An officer shook the guards can see that. We are easy targets
down my cell and he found my journal and because we learn from a young age to keep
he read it. An inspector called me down to our mouths shut. There are repercussions to
the control center. Eventually, I told them what telling. It is brainwashed into us.
happened. It was almost the norm because of how
They sexually assaulted the women all the I grew up. I just felt like ‘Well, here comes
time coming out of chow hall. That was their another one.’ It’s hard to explain it unless you
favorite pat down. They would grab your have been there. I have known it all my life
I
was in medium custody in a pod of 16 handle in my anus. I was then coherent and
45-year-old
man from people—the locks had been removed tried to fight back. They left only to come
Kansas City, as ordered by the warden. Aryan gang back and five of them took turns telling me
Kansas, who members resided in this 16-man pod; two of what would happen if I told on them and
is serving them were top member enforcers. The in- what would happen to members of my fam-
approximately mate who attacked me was and still is the ily on the outside.
12 years for top guy. I have a shaved head but I am not a I was extorted by this group for three
possessing
neo-Nazi. months and forced into fighting someone
marijuana and
I was attacked in my sleep around 11:30 that was a group member.
methamphet-
amine and at night. I woke with an inmate choking me. Mentally, I cannot be in a prison multi-
selling Then he repeatedly hit me in the face until I dwelling. I have to be in a maximum lock-up
cocaine. had two gashes under my eyes. He left and cell. I suffer from anxiety, depression, panic
came back with a toilet brush in his hand. He attacks and OCD [obsessive-compulsive dis-
had already pulled down my pants. He beat order]. I have to fight constantly with DOC
my penis and testicles with the bristle end of [Department of Corrections] to keep a max
the toilet brush and then tried ramming the cell.
W
hen I entered protective custody, me to go near the door. So, when he went
I was placed in a three-man room, to get a check-up, I told the CO what hap-
with only one other inmate in it. On pened. And that’s when I got placed in the
January 1, 2006, he told me that I was going SHU [segregated housing unit].
to be his ‘New Year’s present.’ Even though Emotionally, I have been so stressed out
he was double my weight, I thought he was that I have tried to kill myself several times. I
just joking. My mind was just on going home. am on some medication for the depression,
Later on that day, he grabbed me by the but the pain never goes away.
throat and threatened to kill me if I didn’t Just because I’m in jail for drugs
John Cooks
is serving a give him oral sex. I was so scared, I started shouldn’t mean that I should be subjected to
four-to-eight crying and begging and pleading with him. all of the things that I am going through.
year sentence at But, he wouldn’t stop. I tried telling the CO Rather, nobody should go through what I’ve
Attica Correctional [Corrections Officer] but he wouldn’t allow been through and am going through.
Facility in New
York for attempted
possession On January 1, 2006, he told me that I was going to be his ‘New
of a controlled
substance. Year’s present.’
I
was a model prisoner. I was the welder When he was really working me over bad,
there. If they needed bars built or they he got the signal. He must have had the vol-
needed a seclusion cage built, I did it. I ume turned up so loud on his police radio—
joked around with all the officers, and we all the officer looking out for him cleared his
got along. I trusted them. throat over the radio.
I was asleep one night after all the head He started freaking out. He was scream-
counts had already happened. Miller was the ing, ‘Get up, get up!’ He kicked me over. He
only officer on duty that night. He kicked my said, ‘Get your pants on and get the fuck out!’
door open and he shined the flashlight in my He had to unlock the door and put all of his Marilyn Shirley is a
face and he said ‘Shirley, get up. You’re belts and handcuffs and his uniform top back 49-year-old Texas
wanted at the officer’s station.’ on. mother of two and
I said, ‘Miller what’s going on? Did Doug When he unlocked the door, he said,
stepmother of five
who was sentenced
die? Did something happen to my kids?’ He ‘Don’t try to say anything. It’ll be your word
to prison along
said, ‘Just shut up and git. Hurry up.’ against mine. Who do you think they’re go- with her husband
We got to the officer’s station, and he ing to believe?’ in 1998 for
told me to sit down. The blinds were closed. I wanted to tell right then, but I was afraid conspiracy to
He picked up the phone and said, ‘If the Lieu- if I did, they would ship me far away, and I distribute drugs.
tenant heads over here, give me the signal.’ wouldn’t be able to see my kids. Ten thou- The charges were
The next thing I knew he had pulled me sand things were going through my head. brought when a
to him and kissed me right on the mouth. I Could I make it seven more months without
customer at their
auto body shop
pushed him back and I said, ‘Oh, no, this ain’t anybody finding out? Should I just forget
tried to pay
happening.’ His eyes completely turned to about this? Is this part of my punishment? Did his bill with
stone. He said, ‘Yes, it is going to happen. Do I make him think that I wanted this? You start methamphetamine.
you think you are the only one?’ blaming yourself. You start feeling guilty At the time, both
He grabbed my hair and wrapped it yourself. Ms. Shirley and her
around his hand. He already had his pants I went back to my room, where my room- husband, Doug,
down. He was already hard. He shoved my mates were sleeping. I put the T-shirt and the had been drug-free
head down on his penis until it wouldn’t go sweatpants in a bag and rolled it up like trash
for 15 years.
Neither she nor her
any farther. and shoved it up underneath my locker. I was
husband were
He bent my arm around and shoved my thinking that when everyone else was gone, I found to be in
face into the wall. He started ripping my would just throw them away. I lay awake all physical possession
sweatpants away. He reached down there and that night, just crying and trembling, looking of any drugs.
opened me up and just shoved it in. at the wall.
I was mad at first, but then I just went
numb. I had been trying to talk him out of I said, ‘You know, I just had a
it—I said, ‘You know, I just had a hysterec-
tomy. I’m old enough to be your mom. I hysterectomy. I’m old enough
thought we were friends.’ But he just turned
to stone.
to be your mom. I thought we
I’m thinking he’s going to kill me or he’s were friends.’ But he [the
going to tell them that I assaulted him or tried
to run. I’m thinking, ‘I’m fixing to die.’ officer] just turned to stone.
I was going to throw the sweatpants penny. Miller doesn’t have $4 million.
away, but I started thinking, ‘There’s men’s It’s not right that they’re putting so many
semen on my sweatpants. This is a women’s people in prison for drugs. Sometimes there
prison. That’s going to be the proof. I’ve got aren’t even any drugs found, and they put
him red-handed.’ people in for conspiracy. There were no drugs
I kept the sweatpants until the day I got found in my case. They never could connect
released from prison seven months later, and me with any type of drugs.
then I reported the rape. My probation of- Most of the women there are doing time
ficer took me to a rape crisis center. The FBI because of a boyfriend. They won’t testify
came and picked me up, and took me to the against their boyfriends so they end up get-
federal building in Dallas. They gave me a lie ting 10, 15, 25 years on drug charges all be-
detector test, which I passed. cause they’re being stubborn. They love their
It took a long time for the sweatpants man so much.
to come back from the FBI crime lab. The DNA Half of the women in there were there
matched him. The jury convicted him of ag- on conspiracy charges because they were
gravated assault, aggravated sodomy, sexual somebody’s girlfriend or husband. There are
abuse of a ward of the court, and abusing older women in there in wheelchairs that look
and raping an inmate on federal property. like grandmothers. You ask them what they’re
He got 12 years. He is serving his time now. in for, and they say, ‘It was my house that my
I sued Miller for damages, and a jury son dealt drugs out of. They tied me up in
awarded me $4 million. I haven’t seen a this conspiracy, and I got 25 years.’
B
efore the actual rape, I fought the two The individual [who raped me] was federal court of
individuals nearly to the death. I con- granted parole to the very area that I resided mail fraud that
was motivated
tinuously screamed for help. I begged in. The thing that haunted me the most was
by his drug
at the top of my lungs for someone to please [his] last statement to me as I was leaving [the
addiction. He
help me. I begged them to please stop and prison] to be transferred. He yelled this state- was sentenced
please don’t do this. Eventually, they physi- ment from segregation for the whole recre- to three years in
cally overpowered me and threw me on the ation yard to hear, as well as me. He stated, ‘Ha, prison and three
bed. While the knife was at my neck, one Ha, Bitch, I see they are transferring you!! … years supervised
penetrated me while the other one held my This ain’t over, Bitch!! This is far from over!! I’ll release. He was
legs. I struggled until I was initially penetrated; see you on the street!! Don’t forget that I’m re-incarcerated
during his
after that I must have gone into shock and from around the way, Bitch!! We’ll finish this
supervised
went completely limp and numb. I felt like I on the Bricks!!’ When I close my eyes at night
release because
was hovering over my body, while they vio- I hear this in my head and in my nightmares. he tested
lated me. After the first individual finished, I then fell into a serious state of depres- positive for
the other individual raped me while the other sion and paranoia. The nightmares and flash- drug use.
one held my legs. After they were both fin- backs were becoming more intense and
ished, the initiator urinated on me. The initia- frequent. I was having many intense mood
tor commenced to rape me again. At which swings. I would have uncontrollable fits of rage
point, I came to and started fighting back. That instantaneously. I was highly emotional and
was when I was cut by the knife. While I on constant edge. My sleeping and eating
struggled, I heard one say, ‘Hit the Bitch … let habits seriously diminished, so I was starting
me go again.’ I was able to free myself and to suffer from sleep deprivation. I reverted
escape the room. back to all the symptoms that I had right after
The aftermath felt by a victim of rape is the rape—like I had a relapse. The hallucina-
indescribable. I have not and will never be the tions of seeing the two individuals that raped
same person I was before that horrific inci- me, I would sometimes hear their voices where
dent. To actually beg and plead with an indi- they would be laughing at me. It was basi-
vidual not to hurt you, to plead with someone cally as if I was reliving that event all over again.
to not violate you, and to actually beg for your All of the progress that I made trying to
life is very traumatizing. Everyday, I look into heal and forget about the rape was lost the day
the mirror to do everyday things like brush my perpetrator was released to my hometown.
my hair or teeth, and I see the scar on my I wish I could hear someone say that they
neck and I flash back to that incident. I have are sorry for what I had to go through, and
been haunted by that incident. There is not a what I went through, and continue to go
night that goes by that I don’t have a night- through, because no one should have to go
mare where I relive that horrific incident. through what I went through.
A
lthough government efforts to Ronald Reagan took up the Nixon drum-
control drug use date back to the beat in the 1980s, when crack cocaine
late 19th century, drug control ini- became visible, particularly in poor and
tiatives became particularly zealous in the minority communities. 38 As Nancy
second half of the 20th century. The war Reagan urged schoolchildren to “Just Say
on drugs was formally declared by Rich- No” to drugs,39 Congress enacted legis-
ard Nixon early in his first term as Presi- lation that included mandatory minimum
dent.32 Congress followed suit in 1970 sentences for drug offenses,40 and created
when it passed the Comprehensive Drug federal sentencing guidelines that limited
Abuse Prevention and Control Act.33 judicial discretion in criminal cases.41
This Act centralized federal drug laws and While the federal government started
placed these laws under the federal the war on drugs, states and counties filled
government’s expansive Commerce its warrior ranks. In the 1990s, drug ar-
Clause power, thereby giving the Attor- rest and imprisonment rates at the local
ney General enforcement power over vir- level skyrocketed. A model of law en-
tually all narcotics and other dangerous forcement developed, most notably in
drugs. The Drug Enforcement Admin- New York City, in which public order
istration (DEA) was established in 1973.34 offenses, including minor drug offenses,
While, in March 1973, Nixon insisted were heavily prosecuted and punished
that “drug abuse was still public enemy under the theory that combating minor
number one,”35 later that year he declared crimes will stave off more serious of-
that “[w]e have turned the corner on drug fenses.42 Among defendants convicted of
addiction in the United States.”36 The a drug offense, the proportion sentenced
Ford and Carter administrations followed to prison increased from 79 percent in
T
hree weeks into my prison sentence,
my mother visited me at Atwood
Since I began pursuing
Federal Prison Camp in Kentucky. Dur- administrative remedies, I have
ing the visit, I began to shiver, and my mother
wrapped her shawl around me. The officer become a target for
supervising the visiting room told me that I
can never wear clothes brought by a visitor.
humiliation and harassment…
She instructed me to go into a tool room for
a visual search. October 2002, and my strip search took place
Leah Atkinson is a
I went into the tool room and started to on the first weekend she returned to work.
41-year-old
strip, as the officer instructed. My disability Another officer made sexual advances to- Kentucky woman
prevented me from taking my clothes off ward me in April 2003. When I rejected his who grew up in a
quickly. Clearly frustrated with my limitations, advances, he became very angry and aggres- deeply religious
the officer put on rubber gloves and patted sive. When I witnessed him in a sexually com- home. A violinist
me down by running the palms of her hands promising position with another inmate, he and former beauty
began threatening me and following me ev- pageant contestant,
over my breasts and touching my nipples. Her
she was very active
rubber gloves pulled out pubic hair as she erywhere.
in her church’s
“patted down” my genitals. Since I began pursuing administrative
youth group. After
I was shocked by her aggressive actions, remedies, I have become a target for humilia- graduating from
and asked her why she was acting that way. tion and harassment, including verbal threats college with dual
She told me to be quiet. I pleaded with her to and aggressive insults. I was denied visits for degrees in business
unlock the door and let me out of the tool two years, and when I tried to appeal, I was and education, she
room. Finally satisfied with the search, she al- moved to segregation. The final retaliation was worked as a fitness
a transfer to a high-security prison in Danbury, trainer and substi-
lowed me to return to the visiting room.
tute teacher. She
When the visit ended, it was time to be Connecticut—more than 1,000 miles from
was disabled by a
searched again by the same officer. I told the home.
1998 snowmobile
officer that although I was not refusing to be This prison is dirty, dangerous, and horri- accident, and
searched, I would like to have another officer bly overcrowded—many inmates are forced became addicted to
be present. I was given a ticket for disobeying to sleep on the floor upon arrival. Danbury’s the powerful
a direct order. reputation for sexual misconduct is even worse painkiller Oxycontin.
I reported the incident through the ad- than Atwood’s—I am being subjected to it After her medical
daily. I never knew such treatment existed in benefits ran out,
ministrative remedy process. By doing so, I
she started obtain-
learned that nine other women had filed com- our country—especially sanctioned by the gov-
ing the drug from
plaints against the officer who strip-searched ernment. I have done nothing to deserve this
a street dealer, and
me. She was suspended during the month of abuse, and I am powerless to stop it. eventually began
trafficking cocaine
for him. In 2002,
I never knew such treatment existed in our country—especially she was sentenced
to seven years in
sanctioned by the government. federal prison for
conspiracy to
distribute cocaine.
I
n 1992, I was put in the same cell with I was in that cell with him for a week,
[someone convicted of murder]. They and it went on all that week. It happened ev-
made a movie on this guy, and he made ery night, and during the day when he was
me watch it one night. After I watched this working in laundry he would come and tell
movie, I did not want to be in his cell no more. me to put the towel up and close the door
We were in the cell one night and he said, and tell his homeboys to watch out for him.
‘Hey, Troy, have you ever done it with a guy?’ He let two of his homeboys do it too.
I said, ‘No way, what do you think I am?’ He I told the sergeant that [my cellmate] was
Troy Bishop is a said, ‘This is another world. Nobody really in there raping me. The sergeant did not want
39-year-old man knows what we do in here. I’ve been with to hear me, so I told the chaplain that I was
who grew up in a
punks before, and no one knows it.’ I said, being raped by my cellmate. Nothing hap-
working-class
‘Well, I do now, because you just told me. It pened. I told another inmate that my cellmate
home in Illinois. He
began smoking must not be too much of a secret.’ was forcing me to have sex, and he said, ‘If
marijuana at age He gave me this look, and I got scared, you’re not doing anything about it, you must
nine or ten and because I had a catheter in my heart—I had want it.’
continued to use osteomyelitis from shooting drugs. I also had I was so mad at myself because I did not
marijuana and a bone infection in my ulna—I had these metal fight the guy. I should have hit him in his
barbiturates rods sticking out of my arm. He said, ‘Those mouth and been a man. I was sick, and I used
as a way to
can come out real easy.’ that as an excuse.
self-medicate his
I picked up my Bible—I was thinking, I wasn’t raised to be a fighter. I was raised
epilepsy. He began
using cocaine at 16 ‘God help me. Please.’ I had my Bible, and he in a ‘Leave it to Beaver’ neighborhood in a
and later injected said, ‘That isn’t going to help you.’ He knocked nice little town where everyone keeps their
heroin and it on the floor. He told me to get on my stom- lawns nice. I never learned how to fight. One
cocaine. He started ach on the floor. I did what he told me, and day [my cellmate] and those other guys beat
stealing to support he put it inside me. me up so bad my nose cracked and I couldn’t
his habit, and I did what he wanted, but then he breathe any more.
served several
wanted me to suck his dick. I said, ‘No, I don’t I never thought this would happen to me,
short jail and
want to do that. Please don’t make me do because I considered myself a badass, but
prison sentences.
In 1993, he was that.’ He said, ‘OK, will you let all of my home- these guys were hard core. They can cut your
sentenced to 25 boys do you like this?’ I said yes. throat and watch you bleed and sit there and
years in prison for I said that so he wouldn’t beat me up. eat a sandwich.
possession of The next day, I went and told the sergeant, The only way I could get out of there
cocaine under and he said, ‘What are you doing here, any- was to rip out my catheter and the rods in my
Texas’ habitual way? You shouldn’t be over here with these
offender law.
guys.’ All those guys in that whole wing were I feel like I’m less than a man. I
life sentences or came off death row. They all
killed people. They were murderers and rap- get reminded every day by
ists. They were all gang members.
I don’t know what I was doing there. I these inmates and officers—
guess they put me there because I was com-
they tell me that I’m a whore,
plaining about the other unit, so they said,
‘Put him here and see how long he lasts.’ that I’m a punk.
I
had a lot of different cellmates. They I served time at another prison where
Beach, California, as
would put you in a cell with anyone. they kept people in dorms that used to be
one of eight children
They put me in a cell with this one guy, I gyms and rec rooms. That kind of thing hap-
in a household
headed by a single don’t know what he was in for. For the first pened all the time. It doesn’t matter if you’re
mother and a series couple of days, everything was okay, but one affiliated [with a gang]. There was this guy,
of stepfathers. He night I woke up because he was holding a and they moved a youngster into his dorm, a
began running the razor blade attached to a toothbrush to my young Crip, and that guy didn’t care that he
streets and smoking neck. was affiliated. He sodomized him. If they can
marijuana at age 13. He was a big guy, and he had me pinned. get the drop on you in a confined situation,
Eventually, he was
There was nothing I could do. He forced him- with no retaliation, they’re going to do it.
introduced to PCP,
self on me. He sodomized me. I knew what I was doing [when I sold
and began breaking
into houses to I didn’t report it. I didn’t want to keep it drugs], but the crime doesn’t fit the time. I got
support his drug to myself, but I felt like I had no choice. Noth- 14 years, and I never even touched the drugs.
habit. As a teenager, ing was going to be done about it. The dam- I’m not a violent person. You can look at my
he was sent to the age was already done. I was going to prison. history and see that it’s wrong. It doesn’t fit.
California Youth I didn’t want to make things worse for me in
Authority twice for there.
burglary and, once
released, began
The first couple of years were the hard- These drug laws aren’t there to
est. I was trying to deal with it the best way I
selling crack cocaine.
He was arrested knew how. I smoked weed in here. I listened help society. If they wanted to
twice for selling to music. I did whatever I could to block it
crack, and was sent out. It messed with my head. I pride myself
stop drugs from coming into the
to county jail and on being a man. I pride myself on being able
state prison. In 1997,
country, they would stop them.
to meet all physical challenges.
he was arrested I sit and I wonder what I could have done
again after a
differently. That’s when the dark side comes These drug laws aren’t there to help so-
girlfriend sold a $20
out. That’s when the monster rears its ugly ciety. If they wanted to stop drugs from com-
rock of cocaine.
To avoid being head. I used to think about what I would do ing into the country, they would stop them.
sentenced to to him if I saw him again. I would think about They’re creating jobs for a whole class of
25-years-to-life beating him. I would think about killing him. people by locking up a whole other class of
under California’s But when my thoughts go way out there, I people. You build a prison, you’re helping an
three-strikes law, he rein them in. I don’t want to throw my life entire community. We’ve given them job se-
accepted a plea away. I want to get out of here. curity with our stupidity.
bargain and is
currently serving a
13-year sentence in
a California
state prison. I didn’t report it. I didn’t want to keep it to myself, but I felt like I
had no choice. Nothing was going to be done about it. The
damage was already done.
I
was a few weeks from graduating high happened. I’m glad that there were only six
school. I attended a party at a local hotel, guys. Six is only the best of my recollection. It
celebrating a friend’s birthday. might have been more. I don’t recall their
Another birthday guest initiated our ar- faces, except a couple.
rests that evening when he unwittingly I didn’t even see most of their faces.
dropped a lump of hashish in the hotel’s lobby, There was near-zero supervision in that
witnessed by a security officer. The security jail. No guard had line of sight into that cell.
officer followed our friend up to our room, The guards’ office was at the end of a hall-
and then summoned police. Everyone of age way at the cellblock’s end, and their TV was Chance Martin is
was arrested. blaring 24/7. a 52-year-old
Taken to the county jail for processing, I The only time I ever saw a guard was San Francisco man
from a working-
imagined I could call my parents there to ar- when they brought a prisoner in or took one
class home in
range my release. out, or when they inspected the cell in the
Gary, Indiana.
I was wrong. It was three days before I morning to ensure their trustees had swept it University-bound,
could call my parents. with those brooms and mops. instead he
‘General pop’ was a large cage holding Released—and a deal was made to ex- was forced to
about 40 men. It was the dead of the night punge my arrest if I enlisted in the military. volunteer for
when I got there. My cellmates were all await- That’s how I became a Vietnam era veteran. military service
ing trial or serving county sentences. One was In the service I abused alcohol and drugs at during the
Vietnam War
a blond man with a mustache whose face was every opportunity. I felt worthless, and I only
because of a drug
beaten to a pulp—and who kept strictly to further reinforced this feeling—trapped in a
arrest before
himself. self-fulfilling prophecy. graduating from
Finding me sitting hopelessly on my bunk, I’ve made so many poor decisions trying high school. For
a trustee insisted that I join a card game to to cope with a nearly inextinguishable sense of nearly three
‘cheer me up.’ The game only lasted three shame, I’ve never really forgiven myself. I have decades after that,
hands. It then became a demand for sex. recurring issues with guilt and trust today. I Mr. Martin
Threats were made pointing out the example struggled with
mental illness,
of the cellie with the battered face.
Driving their point home, four other trust-
I’ve made so many poor drug abuse,
suicidal ideation,
ees jammed my ribs with broomsticks and decisions trying to cope with a and homelessness.
mop handles. I tried to call for help. Repeat- Today, Mr. Martin
edly I had my breath beat from my lungs. nearly inextinguishable sense works days at a
Curled up on the floor, my arms protected law office, and
my head.
of shame, I’ve never really nights as resident
Dark memories recall being dragged to a manager in a
forgiven myself. I have low-income
bunk obscured by army blankets at the far-
high rise in
thest end of the cell from the turnkey’s office. recurring issues with guilt and San Francisco.
One guy said, ‘Now you have to give me
head.’ trust today. I can easily
I had never even heard the term before.
The scariest part was I lacked the first clue
conjure feelings of
what was going to go down until it already worthlessness.
can easily conjure feelings of worthlessness. to fill its own insatiable need. It dispropor-
These traits have truly come to define me. tionately exploits poor people and people of
Being raped in that cell permanently dam- color. It’s become its own grand addiction—
aged my being. I can imagine if it happened locking up America’s poor.
minus the rape I might have moved on sooner. Today’s drug users are so stigmatized by
I’m overcoming it now, but it took me until I America’s failed War on Drugs, and lawmak-
was in my 40s to find any real perspective. ers are so intent to punish, rather than reha-
Being raped took 20 years from my life. bilitate non-violent drug offenders, that
And I learned the law hurts Americans a society somehow manages to overlook pris-
lot more than drugs hurt Americans. oner rape as the unspoken status quo in our
We live in a country at war with itself. correctional institutions.
America’s drug war has now created a I was fortunate. It didn’t kill me.
prison industrial complex that seems unable Instead, it shaped the person I’ve become.
P
rison was something new for me. I Later on, after everybody went to sleep, who was raised by
was kind of scared. It was okay at he was still around. He said, ‘Don’t forget
her father and
grandparents
first, and then they sent me to [another about that ticket.’ I never told anybody. I never
after her mother
facility]. That’s where everything started hap- said anything else about it. abandoned the
pening. Later, when I took my shower and I got family when Ms.
An officer on the second shift gave me dressed in my cubicle, I felt somebody watch- Linez was three
extra duty cleaning the bathrooms. He came ing me. When I looked up, he was standing years old. She spent
in and looked at me while I was in the bath- up there. He said, ‘You don’t have nothing to her childhood
room. I got this real funny feeling—a nasty be ashamed of. You have a nice set of hoot- riding in the cab of
feeling. I came out and went to my cubicle. ers on you.’
her father’s big
rig or attending
He said he needed to see me. Instead of him They should leave their personal feelings
church with her
calling me to the desk, he called me to the and desires at home. They should screen them grandfather, who
back, to the storage room. and they should listen when the inmates was a minister.
He pulled up to me and I cringed and I scream rape or assault or abuse. She turned to
pushed him away. He said, ‘You got some big They are supposed to be there to protect prostitution in her
tits.’ I pushed him and I ran out the room. I us from each other, so no one gets hurt. We teens and began
ran back to my cubicle and my heart was beat- are not put there for their convenience. We smoking marijuana
ing so fast. I heard about stuff like that hap- may have crossed the wrong side of the street
in her early 20s. She
eventually became
pening, but it had never, ever happened to and have done something we shouldn’t have
addicted to crack
me. I was really scared and I was so far away done. We are there to do our time. We are cocaine. In 1999,
from home. I was all by myself. not there for their abuse, for them to violate she was sentenced
So I told [two other inmates]. Then he called us and do what they please with us. I never to two-to-five
me back. After I told [one inmate], she said, want to go back to prison. Never, because years in prison for
‘Don’t go talk to him. You don’t have to talk there is so much corruption. possession of a $20
to him.’ I asked her if she would go with me, rock of cocaine.
and she said yes. He wanted me to come back
While imprisoned,
Ms. Linez was
to the storage room, but I stayed at the desk. We are there to do our time. diagnosed with
I said, ‘If there is anything you want to paranoid
say to me, you can say it right here in front of We are not there for their schizophrenia.
[her].’ He said, ‘Well, you know you are on
sanction, and I could write you up a major
abuse, for them to violate us
ticket.’ In other words he was telling me that
and do what they please
if I said anything to anybody that I would get
written up for a violation. with us.
T
hey came and arrested me at work. couldn’t get out for an hour. I felt so filthy
man who grew up
in an upper- I had a couple of pills on me. Then and disgusting.
middle-class home they took me back to my house, and I feel like I didn’t fight hard enough, but
in Riverside County, found a marijuana plant. They took me to the it wouldn’t have been much of a fight. I was
California. His first [jail]. I was charged with possession of pills just paralyzed with fear.
experience with and cultivation of marijuana. It destroyed my life. It destroyed my ca-
drugs at age They put me in a cell with five other guys reer as a singer and a musician. I couldn’t go
14 ended in a
in a four-man cell. There were not enough up and sing in front of people any more. The
hospital emergency
beds, so I had to lay on the floor. They were pain was so bad from the rape, I turned to
room when he
overdosed on kicking me around. They started to make com- alcohol and drugs. I ended up in the street. I
asthma medication. ments that really scared me. They said, ‘you’re lived in a car for ten years. I was in the gutter
He began smoking going to play poker with us, and whoever loses for 20 years. The pain was so bad that I wanted
marijuana and gets the ‘brown eye’ [gets sodomized]. We to kill myself every day. I still do.
abusing prescrip- played a hand, and they said, ‘you lose.’ This rape came at a time when I was try-
tion drugs at 16. The guy who raped me was the size of ing to feel like a man. I lost all of the natural
At 19, he was
Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was in there for joy I was born with. My emotions were dam-
working in a factory
raping a college girl at gunpoint, but I didn’t aged so bad. I lost all my confidence. I with-
and pursuing a
promising music know that at the time. He pulled me onto his drew. I hid from people. Everyone knew about
career, but felt bunk and told me to turn over, but I refused. the rape. People asked cruel questions and
he had ventured He said he had a shank under his bed. I never said cruel things.
too far into the saw it, but I believe he had it. He hit me so hard When you’re picked up for a crime, I don’t
drug scene. After in the face it sounded like a gun going off. care what it is, I feel it’s unfair to add sodomy
a bad LSD trip, He raped me. Then he told two other to the punishment. Doing the time is punish-
he called his
guys to rape me too. They only did it because ment enough.
parents for help,
they were scared of him.
and they called
the police. There were people being raped in the cell
next to me, they were screaming for help, and The pain was so bad from the
the guards never came back to see what was
going on. rape, I turned to alcohol and
When they were done, he said, ‘Okay,
drugs. I ended up in the street.
we’re going to do this again tomorrow night.’
The trustee came by a few hours later, and I I lived in a car for ten years. I
told him I feared for my life. Later, they took
me to the office, and I reported the rape. was in the gutter for 20 years.
The police said it was my fault for taking
drugs, and they hoped I had learned my les-
The pain was so bad that I
son. My parents said it was my fault, too. wanted to kill myself every day.
I didn’t realize the damage until later.
When I got home, I took a shower, and I I still do.
T
he war on drugs and its sentencing in 15 Americans will serve time in prison
laws have resulted in rampant incar- during his or her lifetime if current in-
ceration nationwide. Until the carceration rates remain unchecked.81
1970s, the U.S. incarceration rate re- For men of color, imprisonment is even
mained relatively stable.75 However, in more likely—one in ten Latino men and
the past three-and-a-half decades, the one in three black men are estimated to
growth in the prison population has far serve time during their lifetime.82
outstripped population growth as a The capacity to build and operate pris-
whole, primarily due to the increased ons has simply not kept pace with these
imprisonment for drug offenses.76 The skyrocketing incarceration rates. Federal,
U.S. inmate population has quadrupled state, and local expenditures for correc-
since 1980, to 2.27 million people in tions increased between 1982 and 2003
2004,77 and the imprisonment of people from $9.5 billion to $60 billion.83 None-
convicted of drug offenses has accelerated theless, overcrowding has continued to
at an even faster pace. The number of
state prisoners serving drug sentences in-
creased more than tenfold, from 19,000 The number of state prisoners serving
in 1980 to 256,000 in 2002.78 The incar-
ceration rate for drug offenses is the most drug sentences increased more than
dramatic in federal prisons—from 4,900
in 1980 to 86,972 in 2003.79
tenfold, from 19,000 in 1980 to 256,000
This massive prison population growth in 2002. . . . in federal prisons—from
affects more and more Americans. Ac-
cording to the U.S. Department of Justice, 4,900 in 1980 to 86,972 in 2003.
T
hey put me in a day cell with five put me back in that cell with that guy. I didn’t
other inmates. We were watching want to be labeled as a snitch.
‘Dragnet’ through the bars when one Finally, they took me to a hospital. I was
of them started to stroke my hair and tell me in the hospital for a week, and eventually un-
how pretty I was. He said he had been up- derwent two surgeries. I still have wires in my
state for two years, and I looked real sweet. skull that show up in X-rays. I can still feel it.
I pushed his hand away and tried to fo- One of my eyes doesn’t close all the way. My
cus on the TV. He got really upset. He said, face got shattered because I had a quarter-
‘You can’t push me away.’ He stroked my hair gram of pot in my pocket. Michael Piper is
again, and I pushed him again. He threw a The funny thing is, they were going to a 50-year-old
advertising agency
right cross that hit me in the right eye and release me after that, and I had to talk the
network manager
crushed my eye socket. judge into giving me enough time so they
who lives on his
Even after all that, he was still intent on would be forced to fix the damage to my face. sailboat in Port
raping me. I fell on the floor and pretended I The whole thing was ridiculous. The guy Washington, near
was having a seizure. He hit me pretty hard. I who tried to rape me was in for armed rob- New York City.
was in enough pain that feigning a seizure bery. I hadn’t been convicted of anything, and In 1974, he was
wasn’t that hard. I was in a cell with a pretty violent guy. arrested for
I must have convinced the other inmates I think the drug war is ridiculous. I think possessing a
marijuana cigarette
that I was dying. One of the other inmates it’s the height of American fascism. The drug
butt early on a
called for a guard. He said, ‘I’m not doing no war makes criminals out of people who don’t
Sunday morning
murder rap just so you can get your dick wet.’ need to be criminals. while out walking
The guards finally came and got me out of in Tempe, Arizona.
there before he could do any more damage.
After I got hit I was interrogated by the
sheriffs and the detectives for hours without
The drug war makes criminals
medical attention. I refused to tell them what
out of people who don’t need
happened. I didn’t know what they were go-
ing to do. I didn’t know if they were going to to be criminals.
I
t was just so common for stuff to happen
middle-class
that it wasn’t called abuse. It was like
Then there was the [civilian]
background who
started using
they’d walk in the showers and stand there quartermaster. ...He would
drugs at 16 when and have a conversation with us. You never
her parents realized that was not allowed. We were feel up all the girls. ...He
divorced. She abused without even knowing we were be-
began injecting ing abused. It was so normal. It was just a
would bring me Vicodin if I
heroin with her
ex-husband at
part of prison. wouldn’t say anything.
It was overcrowded so they closed down
27, and went to
the day rooms and put beds up. It’s always
prison for the
been overcrowded. You usually have one of- They all liked him. So you couldn’t go and tell
first time a year
later. She has ficer for about 120 women. They can’t keep on him because then you would have had
gone to prison an eye on everybody. problems with inmates. He was one of their
ten times for The warden let us sleep in our underwear favorites. I just said, ‘Oh my God.’ Then I left.
drug offenses, and bras if it got too hot in the dormitories, After that I stayed out of the kitchen be-
parole violations, even though it was against the rules. Stuff cause every time I would go in the kitchen he
and other crimes went on that was just crazy. It made things would come up behind me and say, ‘You got
related to her
easier for them and for us as far as doing the softest lips,’ and would whisper in my ear.
addiction.
something that you wanted to do. So I would wait until he went home before I
One officer had a crush on me. He had would go in the kitchen. I skipped breakfast
me lay down on the floor and gave me a back and lunch for a couple of years.
rub with all my bunkies around. I was so un- Then there was the [civilian] quartermas-
comfortable with him. I would wait for an- ter. I was the seamstress, and he was my boss.
other officer to come in before I would get He would feel up all the girls. I was in the
up and go to the bathroom because I knew quartermaster room all the time and he would
he would try something. He would come and have the girls come in wearing a skirt with no
tuck me in at night and tell me dirty jokes all panties on and have them sit on the desk. I’d
the time. I didn’t tell anyone, but other women have my back to him. He would bring me
in the unit did. They called me up to a build- Vicodin if I wouldn’t say anything. ‘Look what
ing on the night shift and asked me about it. I got, I got a little present.’
I said yes. They pulled him out of the unit. I He ended up getting fired in 1997 or
think he lost his job. I don’t know what hap- 1998. The nursing staff seen him grabbing
pened. the girls and told on him. Prior to that, he
Also, a [civilian] kitchen supervisor pulled was caught—he had this one girl come in with
his dick out on me and told me to suck it. a skirt on and to sit on a desk. He was all
That was in 1995. I had to go ask him to go excited because she wasn’t going to wear any
get us some bananas out of the storage area. panties.
He called me back there with him. He said, I was sewing and she came in and when
‘Look at it, look at it, ain’t it pretty?’ He tried she was sitting on the desk, he was down on
to kiss me. He told me I had soft lips. his knees in front of her and the counselor
I was so shocked. I didn’t know what to walked in and caught him and turned around
do. He was so well-liked with all the inmates. and went and got the lieutenant to come back
in. The lieutenant came back in and escorted not bending over a box. He got fired for mess-
the girl out. So they knew what was going on. ing around with another inmate.
It was always there. I mean, there was If an officer liked you, you could get away
always some officer that was having sex with with anything. Officers would give you their
somebody. They would bring us stuff in. It was phone numbers and tell you to call them. It
real open. It was like a soap opera. I had a was like their lives were so intertwined with
boyfriend then. We all had boyfriends that ours when they shouldn’t have been. It was
were officers. like we were a part of their lives just like they
I didn’t have sex with him in prison, I had were a part of ours. They knew our families.
sex with him after I got out. I wouldn’t. I was They told us everything about themselves. But
there was always the possibility that they
could write you up. They didn’t have to say it.
It was understood. You knew they had that
They knew our families. power.
They told us everything about It seems like everybody was in there for
something drug-related. They used drugs so
themselves. But there was they went out and wrote checks or shoplifted.
I know it’s not everybody, but probably 80
always the possibility that percent of the women were in there for some-
thing drug-related.
they could write you up. They
To me, the women sell themselves short.
didn’t have to say it. It was They lowered themselves. Officers would
bring them a piece of gum and they would
understood. You knew they show them their breasts. I felt like they de-
graded themselves. I felt like it made all of us
had that power. look bad.
M
y roommate grabbed me by my arm minutes. When he was done, he slapped me
sent to prison
and told me I was going to be his. I on the butt and told me to go clean up.
twice for charges
pulled away and told him I was in a I went to the sink and used tissue to clean
related to his
drug addiction. relationship with someone else, and was go- myself up. I realized I was bleeding.
He was first ing to be faithful to that person. He said okay, When an officer came in with the mail, I
incarcerated in and I thought everything was fine. tried to tell him what happened, but I real-
1990 for writing The next night, we were on institutional ized that my roommate knew him from the
a bad check. In lockdown because of a riot on another unit. street, so I knew it wouldn’t do any good to
2000, he was After dinner, my roommate grabbed me by tell him. I sat in the doorway the rest of the
sentenced to five
the arm and tried to pull me from the top night. Not one officer made a security check.
years in prison
bunk. Once my feet hit the floor, he shoved At 5 a.m., when the doors opened, I went
for grand larceny.
During that me face-down onto his bed and grabbed my to an officer and tried to get medical atten-
incarceration, he neck like he was going to break it. tion. He said no. When the shift changed at 7
was placed in a He said, ‘Nobody turns me down.’ He a.m., I tried to talk to anyone I could, but they
locked-down pulled my pants and underwear from my waist were all too busy.
drug and alcohol to my knees. He said if I made any loud noises, That afternoon, I spoke with a sergeant,
rehabilitation he would hurt me. He raped me for about 30 who contacted the unit administrator, a ma-
unit.
jor, and the warden. When those three were
questioning me, they actually made fun of me.
The major said that because I The major said that because I am gay, the sex
must have been consensual. He said I got what
am gay, the sex must have I deserved.
been consensual. He said I got Since that day, I’ve been harassed by
other officers. The system did nothing to pro-
what I deserved. tect me or help me after it happened.
I
filed two sexual harassment claims against for my attack, even more than the assailant.
Florida who was
another inmate in January 1999. I was then I have since been released, and suffer
sentenced in 1996
placed in segregation for 30 days. I was from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety,
to five years in a
told this was for my own protection. and depression as a result of this assault. Virginia federal
When the 30 days were up, I was placed My assault was an example of the collu- prison for con-
in the cell of the inmate who had been sexu- sion between guards and rapists behind bars. spiracy to possess
ally harassing me. I was told that the warden Letting this attack go unpunished sends a cocaine. While
ordered this cell assignment, even though sev- message to prison staff and guards that it’s there, he became
eral staff members recommended that we be okay to use prison rape as a punishment and upset about
prison conditions
separated. I believe I was put into a cell with a tool to control inmates.
and began
this predator in retaliation for the complaints
writing letters to
I made.
My assault was an example of politicians and
I was sexually assaulted that same night. human rights
The man who assaulted me was a known the collusion between guards organizations.
sexual predator who was serving a 20-year He also
sentence for sexual battery of a child. and rapists behind bars. Letting complained about
The next morning, I reported the assault being sexually
and asked for medical attention. Instead, I was
this attack go unpunished harassed by
another prisoner
thrown back into segregation for another ten sends a message to prison who was a known
days. My file shows that the doctor called the sexual predator.
segregation unit several times asking to treat staff and guards that it’s okay
me, but all requests were denied. After being
released from segregation, I was finally al-
to use prison rape as a
lowed to see a doctor.
punishment and a tool to
Although I reported the assault, nothing
ever happened. I hold the warden responsible control inmates.
I
am a first-time, non-violent drug offender My stress had gotten the best of me. My
prisoner currently
who began transitioning from a male to a back hurt, and when the predator offered to
serving a seven-
female gender identity in 1999 by under- rub it, I agreed.
year sentence in a
Florida state going hormone therapy and adopting a femi- It happened in my room. I was lying on
prison for drug nine voice and mannerisms. When I was sent my stomach wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He
trafficking. A U.S. to a men’s prison in 2002, I had long hair and kept rubbing lower and lower, and I started
Army veteran, 36-DD saline breast implants. to get up. He had already unfastened his pants
she was arrested When I arrived at the reception center in and pulled them down.
outside a Orlando, I stepped off the bus and was strip- I might have been able to stop him if I
drugstore after
searched in front of two guards and about a had realized what he was up to even seconds
getting into
dozen male inmates. earlier. One of his arms was on my shoulders,
the car of an
acquaintance who A sergeant yelled, ‘Look at the tits on that pressing me into a pillow. He used the other
she later learned one! Those are the best-looking tits I’ve ever arm to pull away my shorts and insert his penis.
was a police seen on a man.’ He pointed me out to a six- I yelled for him to stop, but nobody heard
informant. foot, three-inch inmate and said to him, ‘You me. He kept saying, ‘Yeah, you like that, bitch.
Ms. Brooks was like that one, don’t you? I’m going to put you I knew you wanted it.’
convicted for in a cell with that one.’ Another sergeant When he was done, he left, and I closed
possessing 1,000
called me ‘tits’ and ‘titty man.’ and locked my door. I cried all night. I was
pills that were
Normally, you go through the reception ashamed of feeling so helpless.
in another
acquaintance’s car process dressed only in boxer shorts. They gave I questioned what I was even doing at
and which she me a white T-shirt that you could see through. the second-worst prison in the state. How
said she never While the rest of my group went through the could this happen? Why wouldn’t anyone
touched or knew intake process, I was left sitting on a bench help me?
existed. Her story until the afternoon so that all the other in- I distrusted the sergeant on the midnight
was compiled take inmates could see me. It was humiliating shift, so I didn’t tell anyone what happened
from a series
to be placed on display for a hundred or more until morning. I placed my boxers and shorts
of letters she
inmates. into a plastic bag and gave it to an officer.
wrote to SPR.
My head was completely shaved, and my They took me to the medical office, and then
sports bra was taken away, because ‘males’ to the North Florida Reception Center to do a
don’t need bras in prison. rape kit and blood test. I was never given the
I was placed in a locked-down ‘protec- results of either. I gave a statement to a lieu-
tive management’ unit with murderers and a tenant, who called the man who raped me a
predator who had a prior ‘relationship’ with a predator.
transsexual before my arrival. I asked for an update on the investiga-
That predator befriended me, and I tion and prosecution of the man who raped
thought I could trust him. me, but I never got an answer. I requested
the rapist’s HIV and STD test results, but got It took me months to become, once
no response. again, the person I was before I began my
I wasn’t allowed to shower or get any gender transition. With the exception of my
psychological counseling. I was driven hours implants, I could pass for just another man in
away to another prison. I was placed in con- prison. Unfortunately, not all transsexuals can
finement for more than a week, then assigned once again become who they were before
to a better, but very similar, unit as before. transition.
I fought long and hard to get out of that The Florida Department of Corrections
unit. I am now at an adjoining work camp. needs to acknowledge the problem of plac-
My living conditions are better now. This is ing minimum-custody transsexuals into
the type of prison I should have come to in locked-down protective management areas
the first place. with mixed custody levels.
In addition to being placed into a locked- Enough is enough. This must never hap-
down unit with murderers and a predator who pen to anyone else, ever again.
raped me, I’ve been threatened, sexually ha-
rassed, and humiliated by Florida Department
of Corrections staff. I’ve been transferred six
Enough is enough. This must
times, placed in confinement five times, de- never happen to anyone else,
nied medical treatment, and denied work op-
portunities, all due to my appearance. ever again.
A
t the time I was working in the
woman from an Sometimes other officers act as
upper-middle-class kitchen, but he got me assigned to
a one-on-one maintenance detail
Midwestern family a lookout for the ones that
who was sexually with him. He approached me. He was very,
abused by her very subtle. If I was squatting down by the have sex with the inmates . . .
uncle from the time tool bag, instead of grabbing the tool bag, he
she was five years would grab my leg or brush up against me. It
old. Her uncle, an
progressed from that to kissing and fondling. heard somebody up the stairs. Sometimes
anesthesiologist,
We had sexual intercourse. other officers act as a lookout for the ones
regularly drugged
her at bedtime It was a very old prison. They had under- that have sex with the inmates, but I was
before sexually ground tunnels that the maintenance had keys afraid it was someone who would get me in
molesting her. She to go through. Why they allowed him to be trouble. I didn’t want to get into trouble and
began using heroin with one female one-on-one—I don’t know, I kept telling him no.
at age 12, and was because it wasn’t allowed. Somehow the administration found out
sentenced to prison
about it. They transferred me to another
for the first time
prison at 11:00 at night.
at 19 after being He would always bring me They prosecuted him, but he only got
convicted of drug
possession and a pack of cigarettes. He would convicted of disorderly conduct. He owned
burglary. In 1993, his own heating and cooling company in the
after being bring me doughnuts in the area and he did a lot of work for a couple of
returned to prison judges and a couple of churches, so he knew
on a probation morning; just the simplest a lot of people.
violation, she was
sexually abused things you take for granted. I got released a few months later. He
contacted me after I was released, and we
by a civilian
maintenance You really tend to cherish had a physical relationship for another year
supervisor. or so. My daughter was taken away by the
things like that. It went on for state and I was trying to get custody of her
again. He promised to help me, but when I
a couple of years.
refused to have sex with him, he got me sent
back to prison.
He would always bring me a pack of ciga- Because I was sexually molested as a
rettes. He would bring me doughnuts in the child, I felt helpless. I guess it just inverted
morning; just the simplest things you take for me into a shell. I felt like I had no control over
granted. You really tend to cherish things like my life.
that. It went on for a couple of years. I feel taken advantage of. I feel manipu-
I was really afraid of him. It went on until lated. I am angry with the administration for
he hit me on the side of my head and split my covering it up.
eye open. I didn’t get any stitches. I have a This is how it is in here—a world within
scar. We were down in the basement and he a world. You go with the flow. You just roll
was really forceful, really wanting to have in- with it because that is how it is. It is a no-win
tercourse and me not wanting to. I thought I situation. You have to do it for survival.
I
was taken to jail, and two days later I found Todd’s rapes. I lived there in a bubble for 32
man who left
myself in the drug rehabilitation program days, confined to my cell for 23 hours a day. New England for
offered by the county jail. It was the first Florida seeking
drug program I ever encountered that insisted I eventually was released from better economic
I go on drugs, and continue to take my myriad opportunities for
prescribed controlled substances. jail, feeling several centuries himself and his
On Easter Sunday, while in my jail cell now-ex-wife.
during lights out, it happened. My cellmate,
older in my soul. Although they
were looking for a
‘Todd,’ pushed me down onto my cot, ripped I eventually was released from jail, feel-
new life, the couple
down my orange jumpsuit, and forced his ing several centuries older in my soul. My in- brought their
penis into my anus. It hurt so much. My nocence was lost. I eventually returned to alcoholism and
screams didn’t awaken the guards, and no one Boston, leaving my then-pregnant wife be- addiction with
came to the cell. I lay there, face-to-face un- hind, and started a new life. I am blessed to them. During an
derneath Todd, crying and angry, with my nose have found a recovery program for my addic- encounter with
bloodied. tion, loving friends, and a caring therapist. police outside their
motel, Mr. Kent’s
The next lights out, it happened again. I’m trying hard to deal with the emotional
wife became
After the second rape, I knew I couldn’t live fallout. Some days, it feels as though my life
combative,
at the mercy of the sexual attacks of this preda- is a nuclear wasteland, like I am a newcomer and despite
tor. I requested a transfer to protective cus- to a strange, foreign planet. Some nights, I his attempts to
tody, and awaited lights out with a quiet rage. almost feel as though the rapes are happen- cooperate, both
Todd came at me, as I expected, and with all ing again. were arrested. He
of my might and all of my will, I punched him The issues that confront me—the need eventually posted
in the face. All six-foot-plus of him tumbled to stay away from alcohol and drugs, the con- bail, and wished to
return to New
across the cell. The other cellmate said nothing. fusion about my sexual orientation, the truth
England, but was
The guards came 20 minutes later, and I that I may never see my own child—some-
forced to remain in
was taken to solitary confinement. I was then times overwhelm me. Florida to attend to
transferred to protective custody, where I met I’ve been diagnosed with post-traumatic his court case. The
a couple of other inmates who had faced stress disorder (PTSD). I still feel very fright- couple went to live
ened, scared, and timid inside, although my at a homeless
outward projection of myself is nothing like shelter, and Mr.
Perhaps the scariest part of that. Kent was arrested
again after a scuffle
Perhaps the scariest part of being raped
being raped is the desire to go is the desire to go on with life as if nothing
with the pastor
who ran the
on with life as if nothing ever ever happened, the need for control in subse- shelter.
quent sexual encounters, the pain that I am
happened, the need for control in this all alone.
The frightening and outrageous part of
in subsequent sexual this is that the correctional officers were aware
encounters, the pain that I am of both rapes, and did nothing to stop the
rapist. I’m as angry at the system, and the state
in this all alone. of Florida, as I am at the man who raped me.
T
he relationship between drug policy inmates if they are preyed upon or are
and rape behind bars is clear—and victimized by another inmate, or if they
it is a dangerous connection that has prey upon or victimize others.
been ignored for far too long. The fol-
lowing policy changes would help end the
sexual abuse of people convicted of non- 2. Provide vulnerable inmates with
violent drug offenses. voluntary, non-punitive protective
housing.
Inmates should not have to endure abuse
1. Employ standardized classification in order to be protected. Any time after
systems that effectively separate the initial classification, vulnerable in-
likely rape victims from likely sexual mates should have the opportunity to re-
predators. quest and receive protective housing that
An effective inmate classification system effectively separates them from likely
that identifies vulnerable prisoners and perpetrators. Those who request protec-
predators is an essential element in keep- tive housing should not be penalized for
ing prisons and jails safe. Simply put, this decision through a loss of privileges
likely victims should never be housed and programs. Subjecting vulnerable in-
with likely sexual predators. A well-de- mates—or worse, recent rape victims—
veloped classification system requires to 23-hour-a-day lock-down is no way to
maintaining critical data about inmates protect them. It is psychologically diffi-
and ensuring that corrections staff are cult to endure such isolation, it discour-
trained in assessing incoming prisoners ages inmates from seeking help, and it
through a combination of sound judg- effectively punishes the vulnerable. True
ment and standardized tests. Staff must protective custody must ensure that pris-
also be responsive to the need to re-classify oners with a history of violence are
Recommendations 47
neither treat addiction nor prevent crime. 8. Utilize diversion programs and
By increasing the availability of alterna- treatment services to address
tives to incarceration and allowing judi- drug addictions.
cial discretion in sentencing, people with Providing quality drug treatment and re-
non-violent drug convictions can receive habilitation services would effectively
appropriate treatment without enduring address the disease of addiction and re-
the trauma of sexual violence in prison. duce the burden on the criminal justice
For minor offenses, such as marijuana system by lowering rates of recidivism
possession, reducing the use of incarcera- and overcrowding. In addition to offer-
tion would lessen overcrowding, allow ing treatment inside corrections facilities,
corrections officials to focus on the more diversion programs should be established
dangerous inmates, and protect people and used, allowing judges to sentence
who are especially vulnerable to sexual non-violent offenders to drug treatment
violence behind bars. as an alternative to incarceration.
A
s a person suffering from gender iden- cials diagnosed me as having GID (Gender
tity disorder, prison life has been even Identity Disorder). About a month later I was
harder. While it is tough for any non- given an individual cell, and the ability to take
violent offender to be in any prison, it was private showers. Despite the positive change,
even worse for me to be perceived as a fe- I still wake up in the middle of the night shak-
male by my all male peers. I cannot even ing, looking around my cell to make sure that
begin, or do not know where to start, as far no one is around to rape me.
as the years of unwanted sexual assault, rape, Right now, an inmate somewhere is get-
physical abuse, and games that prisoners and ting raped. Right now, an inmate somewhere
staff have subjected me to in pursuit of their is going through the same things I described. Jami Naturalite
own sexual release. Right now, as I often did before, an inmate is is a 44-year-old
transgender
I can remember using the bathroom in a contemplating suicide. Right now, an inmate
woman born
temporary facility. Just sitting there using the is quietly crying himself (or herself) to sleep.
and raised in
bathroom, a guy walks into the stall. I looked Another inmate is waking up just having had Michigan. At
up in surprise and asked what was he doing. a nightmare about his attackers. Yet another the age of 24,
He told me to shut up, and told me his friend inmate is being carried to the infirmary after Jami was
was standing at the entrance to make sure being raped or beaten up. Meanwhile, rape incarcerated in
the coast was clear. With his friend’s assur- test kits sit on the shelf. Psychologists who a men’s prison
ance, the man unbuttoned his pants, un- want to report the crimes to the state police for aiding and
abetting, and
zipped, pulled down his underwear and pulled are sternly advised against it, relocated or ter-
conspiracy to
out his penis. When I asked him to leave me minated for other reasons down the road.
deliver 3.54
alone, he pulled out a shank from his pocket grams of
and told me to suck his dick. He also started cocaine. Jami is
slapping my face with it and became more
Right now, an inmate still serving her
10-to-40-year
aggressive with his verbal instructions. Simi- somewhere is getting raped. sentence.
lar events happened several hundred times
over the years. Right now, an inmate
Similarly, when taking a shower, men
would enter the shower with me and force somewhere is going through
me to give them oral sex or sodomize me. On
the same things I described.
some occasions two guys would sexually as-
sault me at once. Right now, as I often did before,
When inside Jackson, there was a guard
who liked to watch another prisoner have his an inmate is contemplating
way with me. A lieutenant, a third shift guard
and my teaching supervisor, all have sexually
suicide. Right now, an inmate is
assaulted me under the pretext of segrega- quietly crying himself (or
tion if I did not comply with their requests.
Finally in February of 2005 prison offi- herself) to sleep.
Recommendations 49
Testimony: Venerable Kobutsu Malone
I
was charged with presence in an ille- my cell. Instead of the small, white fellow that
gal establishment, possession of the had been in there, there was a very large black
instruments of a crime, violation of the man inside. I stood outside the door because
1937 Marijuana Tax Act, and impersonating I was afraid to go in. One of the guards yelled,
a federal officer. The impersonating a federal ‘Get the fuck in your cell.’ The black guy
officer charge consisted of me having a joke grabbed me and pulled me inside. At that
ID card in my wallet. That charge and the tax point, the cell doors closed.
act charge were dropped. He sat me down and said we were go-
Venerable Kobutsu The other two charges remained. The ing to play cards. I said I didn’t know how to
Malone is a possession of the instruments of a crime play cards. He said, ‘Fuck this shit, you gonna
56-year-old charge consisted of the claim that I had a suck my dick.’ I was just floored. I got up to
American Zen marijuana smoking pipe in my suitcase. I was scream for help from the guards. The man hit
Buddhist priest
a hippie—I had a gas mask bag—I never me in the gut, as hard as I’ve ever been hit in
who has spent
owned a suitcase, no self-respecting hippie in my life. I nearly lost consciousness.
most of the last two
decades teaching 1968 owned a suitcase. I had no drugs or He pinned me down to the bars and had
meditation in paraphernalia; it was simply a routine police his fist in front of my face. This guy probably
prisons, serving as frame-up. outweighed me by a factor of three. There
a volunteer I got up in front of the judge, said I was was no way in hell I stood a chance. He threw
Buddhist Chaplain, not guilty and was given a trial date some me down onto the bunk, tore my pants off,
and ministering three months down the line. Since I couldn’t and anally raped me.
to prisoners on
make bail, I had to go to the D.C. jail. I was I was terrified and in tremendous pain.
death row. As a
absolutely scared to death—an 18-year-old People on the outside seemed to know what
teenager in the
mid-1960s, he was white kid from middle class suburbia being was going on, and they were making a lot of
involved in the placed in an inner-city, predominately black, noise to cover up my protests.
“psychedelic jail. There were remarks made on the bus on After he had finished abusing me, he lit-
revolution.” In the way to the jail: ‘White boy is gonna get erally lifted me up and sat me down, and said,
1968, at the age of his ass reamed. You are in for it. You are go- ‘You’re my bitch. You belong to me and you’re
18, he was arrested ing to be somebody’s bitch.’ When we got going to do anything I say. You’re going to
during a raid
there, we were all made to strip and we were fuck anyone I tell you to.’
at a friend’s
humiliated in front of everyone else, given ill- When they opened the cell doors, I was
Washington,
D.C. house. fitting clothing and put in cells. frozen in place. It was lock-down time and
One day later, after lunch, I went back to they began closing the doors. I stuck my ankle
in the moving door and screamed as loud as I work ever gets finished. It takes away some-
could. They took me to the hospital, and I fi- thing to be that humiliated, to be held so pow-
nally told an orderly what happened to me. erless, and to have the knowledge that one
They made a report and a doctor arrived five has not fought back with every shred of their
to six hours later to do a rectal examination. being to the death. At some point, I surren-
A corrections captain then came in and dered out of unmitigated terror.
said: ‘You’re a homosexual, right? You asked It never goes away. Over time, I think I’ve
for this. You wanted this nigger with his tele- come to some understanding of the situation.
phone pole up your ass? That is what you have One of the things that has helped me tremen-
been going for, isn’t it?’ dously has been spending 16 years working
It was something beyond any horror that with prisoners—witnessing countless cases of
I ever imagined—it gave me tremendous fear. brutality, of dealing with rape and abuse vic-
As a result of being so violently attacked, tims, dealing with people who are being
I was forced to deal with issues of racism, with bought and sold as sexual chattel in prison,
issues of questioning my own masculinity in dealing with people who are being tortured,
terms of defending myself against that attack. and worst of all, witnessing the executions of
That work is not finished. I don’t think that two of my students.
Recommendations 51
Notes
1. PAIGE M. HARRISON & ALLEN J. BECK, BUREAU have been forced or pressured into sex and 7
OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, PRISONERS IN 2004 (2005); percent reported being raped in their current
ROY WALMSLEY, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON, facility).
WORLD PRISON POPULATION LIST (6th ed. 2005). 10. Cindy Struckman-Johnson & David
2. Harrison and Beck calculated that 265,000 Struckman-Johnson, Sexual Coercion Reported by
state prison inmates and 87,000 federal prison Women in Three Midwestern Prison, 39 J. SEX RES.
inmates were serving drug sentences. HARRISON 217, 220 (2002).
& BECK, supra note 1. Their report did not 11. ALLEN J. BECK & PAIGE M. HARRISON,
quantify the number of inmates in jails for drug BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, SEXUAL VIOLENCE
offenses, but an earlier report from the Bureau REPORTED BY CORRECTIONAL AUTHORITIES, 2005
of Justice Statistics estimated that 155,900 jail (2006).
inmates were held on drug charges. TINA L.
12. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, NO ESCAPE: MALE
DORSEY ET AL., BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS,
RAPE IN U.S. PRISONS 63 (2001) (hereinafter
DRUGS AND CRIME FACTS (2003).
“NO ESCAPE”).
3. DORSEY ET AL., supra note 2.
13. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, ALL TOO FAMILIAR:
4. HARRISON & BECK, supra note 1. SEXUAL ABUSE OF WOMEN IN U.S. STATE PRISONS
5. DORSEY ET AL., supra note 2 (1996) (hereinafter “ALL TOO FAMILIAR”).
6. Id. RYAN S. KING & MARC MAUER, THE 14. WAYNE S. WOODEN & JAY PARKER, MEN
SENTENCING PROJECT, THE WAR ON MARIJUANA: BEHIND BARS 18 (1982).
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WAR ON DRUGS IN 15. Christopher D. Man & John P. Cronan,
THE 1990S (May 2005). Forecasting Sexual Abuse in Prisons: The Prison
7. DORSEY ET AL., supra note 2. Subculture of Masculinity as a Backdrop for “Deliberate
8. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS, CRIME IN Indifference,” 92 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 127,
THE UNITED STATES 2004 349, table 5.2. 153-54 (2001).
9. Cindy Struckman-Johnson et al., Sexual 16. NO ESCAPE, supra note 12, at 86.
Coercion Reported by Men and Women in Prison, 33 17. ALL TOO FAMILIAR, supra note 13.
J. SEX RES. 67 (1996); see also Cindy Struckman- 18. Terry A. Kupers, Rape and the Prison Code, in
Johnson & David Struckman-Johnson, Sexual PRISON MASCULINITIES 111 (Don Sabo, Terry A.
Coercion Rates in Seven Midwestern Prison Facilities Kupers, & Willie London eds., 2001).
for Men, 80 PRISON J. 379, 383 (2000) (finding
19. Id. at 154-55.
that 21 percent of inmates surveyed reported to
Notes 53
2003. Id. BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS, TRUTH IN
42. RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI & WILLIAM J. SENTENCING IN STATE PRISONS 2-3 (1999).
BRATTON, POLICE STRATEGY NO. 5: RECLAIMING 57. FAMILIES AGAINST MANDATORY MINIMUMS,
THE PUBLIC SPACES OF NEW YORK 6 (NEW YORK: ARIZONA’S PRISON CRISIS: A CALL FOR SMART ON
CITY OF NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT 1994); CRIME SOLUTIONS 6 (2004).
George L. Kelling & James Q. Wilson, Broken 58. Id. (citing Arizona DOC Monthly Critical
Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety, Issues Report (January 2004)).
ATLANTIC MONTHLY, March 1982.
59. CAL. PENAL CODE § 667.
43. DORSEY ET AL., supra note 2.
60. VINCENT SCHIRALDI ET AL., JUSTICE POLICY
44. Id. INSTITUTE, THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT: 3-
45. Id. STRIKE LAWS 10 YEARS AFTER THEIR ENACTMENT
46. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS, supra 5 (2004).
note 8, at 278, 280 (Tables 4.1 and 29). 61. LEGISLATIVE ANALYST’S OFFICE, STATE OF
47. N.Y. PENAL LAW §§ 220.00-220.65 (West CALIFORNIA, A PRIMER: THREE STRIKES – THE
2000). IMPACT AFTER MORE THAN A DECADE 17-18
(2005).
48. DALE PARENT ET AL., NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
JUSTICE, KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES IN CRIMINAL 62. U.S. OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL
JUSTICE: MANDATORY SENTENCING 1 (1997); POLICY, NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY,
UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION, 2006: FY 2007 BUDGET SUMMARY (2006).
SPECIAL REPORT TO THE CONGRESS: MANDATORY 63. KRISTEN HUGHES, BUREAU OF JUSTICE
MINIMUM PENALTIES IN THE FEDERAL CRIMINAL STATISTICS, JUSTICE EXPENDITURE AND EMPLOY-
JUSTICE SYSTEM 9 (2001). MENT IN THE UNITED STATES, 2003 2 (2006).
49. See MICH. COMP. LAWS ANN. § 333.7403 64. KING & MAUER, supra note 6, at 22 (2005).
(2000 & West Supp. 2001); N.Y. PENAL LAW §§ 65. See, e.g., N.Y. PENAL LAW 220.25 (McKinney
220.00-220.65 (West 2000). 1999); VT. STAT. ANN. TIT. 18, §4221 (2005).
50. 2003 Mich. Public Acts 665, 666, 670; N.Y. 66. United States v. Brigham, 977 F.2d 317 (7th
PENAL LAW § 70.71 (eff. January 13, 2005). Cir. 1992).
51. See, e.g., Jonathan P. Caulkins & Eric L. 67. In 2000, then-Director of the Federal
Sevigny, How Many People Does the US Imprison Bureau of Prisons Kathleen Hawk Sawyer
for Drug Use, and Who Are They? 32 CONTEMPO- testified before Congress: “70-some percent of
RARY DRUG PROBLEMS 405 (2005) (noting that our female populations are low-level, nonviolent
“[i]ncarceration for drug-law violations has offenders. The fact that they even have to come
grown ten-fold since 1980”); Executive Office of into prison is a question mark for me. I think it
the President, U.S. Office of National Drug has been an unintended consequence of the
Control Policy, Drug Fact Sheet 4 (March sentencing guidelines and the mandatory
2003), available online at http:// minimums.” Hearing of the Subcommittee on
www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/ the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State,
drug_datasum.pdf (accessed October 10, 2006) Judiciary and Related Agencies, Committee on
(noting that drug sentences accounted for 20 Appropriations (2000) (testimony of Kathleen
percent of the increase in incarceration between Hawk Sawyer).
1990 and 2000).
68. THE PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE
52. The objections of seventeen judges are AND THE PRESS, INTERDICTION AND INCARCERA-
available on-line at http://www.vcl.org/Judges/ TION STILL TOP REMEDIES (2001).
Judges_speak.htm.
69. PETER D. HART RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC.,
53. Joseph B. Treaster, 2 Judges Decline Drug THE OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE, CHANGING
Cases, Protesting Sentencing Rules, N.Y. TIMES, PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD THE CRIMINAL
Apr. 17, 1993, at A1. JUSTICE SYSTEM 12 (2002).
54. 12 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1). 70. Ann Pastore & Kathleen Maguire, eds.,
55. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforce- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics [Online],
ment Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. §§ 13701-13712 at http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook (visited
(1994). July 10, 2006) (citing The Gallup Poll Organiza-
56. PAULA M. DITTON & DORIS JAMES WILSON, tion, Inc (2005)).
Notes 55
STOP PRISONER RAPE
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I’m trying hard to deal with the emotional fallout.
Some days, it feels as though my life is a nuclear
wasteland, like I am a newcomer to a strange, foreign
planet. Some nights, I almost feel as though the
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