The gang rapes in India have shocked the world. But worse has been the revelation that participating members of the gangs have included Indian politicians. You would expect this practice to be gangs of youths. But no – politicians joining the melee?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21469286
It was very common that women are being raped by prison guards in the United States. Some you hear about, most never. Women in American prisons often get the worst of the worst. They are told if they do not cooperate they will lose their children for they will be sent to prison for decades and their children will be put up for adoption. The typical story centers around drugs – and yes, even just selling marijuana.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/justice/pennsylvania-prison-guard-abuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/william-roy-wilson-jail-guard-sex-abuse-women-inmates_n_1904252.html
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/18840710/prison-guard-accused-of-sexually-abusing-inmates
Then women are often abused especially if attractive. They are separated from male inmates. That is not the problem. The problem is prison guards are not separated according to gender from inmates. Government employees cannot be discriminated against for such jobs – they are unionized. Hence, there are also female guards having sex with male inmates.
As one lawfirm put it: “Contrary to popular belief, inmate abuse is not a thing of the past. Misconduct and excessive force against inmates still occur today in New York and throughout the country. Correctional facilities such as Rikers Island Prison have recently landed in the news for the egregious inmate abuse occurring within their walls.”
http://www.nsfogel.com/Articles/Inmate-Abuse-by-Corrections-Officers-and-the-Legal-Recourse-Available.shtml
Indeed, it was Mark Twain who said, “If you want to see the dregs of society, go down to the jail and watch the changing of the guard.”
Because the government self-interest in prosecuting people outweighs the impact on those people, you will never see this issue make the headlines as a systemic problem because it would expose the Justice System in ways the government would never want to explain. One woman in NY was forced to give oral sex to the head of the guards – the captain. She kept the semen in her mouth and when he left, she spit it out and finally had proof of what she was going through. Her sentence was commuted.
Women are typically not believed because their boyfriend sold drugs as she is usually in prison to be coerced to be a witness against the boyfriend. Hence, they do not like to acknowledge abuse because they lose their witness.
India is being exposed. But the USA control the media. You will see countless stories on individual cases. However, it is a problem as great as the gang rapes in India that goes right up to politicians being involved.
Winston Churchill put it best: “Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.” Unfortunately, we imprison 96% of prisoners for non-violent acts. The costs are so great, that we fail to protect society by outlawing things that only make it profitable to engage in the trade such as drugs. Henry David Thoreau described what has become the United States: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
Nelson Mandela was more to the point: “In my country we go to prison first and then become President.” Indeed, one is on the other side of the looking-glass. What does not break you, only makes you far more stronger. Nonetheless, it is a shame that women’s rights organization have abandoned the abuse women endure in American prisons both from guards, as well as the threats against them if they do not say what the government demands to save their children.
