http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2007/02/13/blog-post-round-up-prison-rape/
[...]
In 2001 Human Rights Watch attempted to turn off the canned laughter. Drawing on testimonies from 200 prisoners in thirty-four states, HRW released a report titled “No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons.” The findings suggested that male rape, often accompanied by almost unimaginable violence, is widespread throughout the US prison system. The report was damning enough to help convince Congress to pass the optimistically named 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act. In writing PREA, Congress estimated that 13 percent of inmates had been sexually assaulted. Even if that is (as many experts believe) a conservative estimate, it translates into a stunning number of victims. “Nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape,” the act states. “The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000.”[...]
[...]
I think that’s right. We’ve decided to tacitly accept rape in our prisons because we believe deeply and firmly in the guilt of all who enter — this is just further punishment. Better yet, we’re not the executors — that such barbarism occurs behind bars is further confirmation that those we incarcerate are monsters. The assaults make us feel better, they vindicate our sentencing. And we can countenance them because we never face their horrors:
[...]
My name is Rodney Hulin and I work at a retirement home here in Beaumont, Texas. I am here today because of my son. He would be here himself if he could . . . . But he can’t because he died in [an adult prison]. . . . [At age seventeen], my son was raped and sodomized by an inmate. The doctor found two tears in his rectum and ordered an HIV test, since up to a third of the 2,200 inmates there were HIV positive. Fearing for his safety, he requested to be placed in protective custody, but his request was denied because, as the warden put it, “Rodney’s abuses didn’t meet the ‘emergency grievance criteria.’” For the next several months, my son was repeatedly beaten by the older inmates, forced to perform oral sex, robbed, and beaten again. Each time, his requests for protection were denied by the warden. The abuses, meanwhile, continued. On the night of January 26, 1996—seventy-five days after my son entered Clemens—Rodney attempted suicide by hanging himself in his cell. He could no longer stand to live in continual terror. It was too much for him to handle. He laid in a coma for the next four months until he died.
To add briefly to the point that Ezra has made, one of the most irritating aspects of CSI (which, sadly, I have been unable to break from) is the common, almost offhand manner in which the heroes threaten suspects with the prospect of rape in prison. It suggests to me that the public at large has simply concluded that a) rape is an integral part of prison life, such that a five year prison sentence automatically includes five years of rape, and b) that anyone who goes to prison is irredeemably besmirched, and thus deserving of constant rape.
[...]
If you asked me what issue Americans will see in retrospect as the greatest unacknowledged barbarity of our time, I would nominate prison rape, which is not only tolerated but frequently encouraged within our prisons and is still the subject of jokes in popular culture and politics.
[...]
Ezra Klein wrote a series of posts on Prison Rape that are really worth reading. As it happens, my roommates were busy cracking jokes about prison rape while I was reading them, and I kind of flew off at them. Accuse me of having no sense of humor, if you will (and they did), but when the conceptualization of a problem as a popular joke is one of the key barriers to fixing it, I don’t think it’s a neutral action to play right into that structure…
Thanking your lucky stars, are you?
this isn’t about me. this is about prison rape. i agree with all the sentiments expressed above, and i find it disgusting the responses i’ve received when trying to raise prison rape as a serious, urgent issue.
Another key barrier to fixing the problem is that I’m sure policy makers view the public acknowledgement of the existence of prison rape as a positive thing, as a deterrence to crime. Just like the threat of the death penalty, there’s a sad misconception that potential criminals will think “oh wait, I can’t risk this and get caught! I could )get the death penalty) / (get raped in prison)!”, and not commit the crime.
It’s a fucked up issue, and people think of it as a given of the prison system or some sort of unauthorized punishment for convicts. Inhumane and wretched.
But wtf mickey, this comes off as some token political thing you’ve posted to seem sympathetic.
Oh for crying out loud
(about this, I mean: wtf mickey, this comes off as some token political thing you’ve posted to seem sympathetic.)
...
...
...
do any of the people you narced on have to do time?
all of them
yeah, mickey—it’s like you’re seeking out the most obvious baiting material. at least let people work a little harder for their zings
fed or state?
[...]
fed
bill sackter, i don’t know you. don’t act like you know me.
[...][...][...][...]
[...][...][...][...]
[...][...][...][...]
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“knowing” people on the internets lol
god forbid anyone should care about preventable cruelty.
not as bad. supposedly. i hope, as i have a family member about to do ~10
mainly because he refused to sell out his coworkers and didnt take a plea. which i respect him for a lot.
it’s a v. tough dilemma. i’m not happy with myself, not at all. it’s not like tv.
yeah, it’s not.
Prison rape is very much a taboo topic. Although rape is a horrific crime, the media has no qualms about reporting on the topic, but when it involves inmates, considered the scum of society, suddenly no one is interested. “They deserve what they get. Let’s leave it at that.” This speaks volumes of the de-humanized way we view those individuals within our justice system. But let’s not forget that those individuals are people, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. It is true that many have committed heinous crimes, but allowing rape to occur within the walls of an institution promotes chaos.
here’s a horrific pun:
one of the pics on GIS after typing in “thuggish ruggish bone”:
sexy
do any of the people you narced on have to do time?
— bell labs (lindsay...), February 14th, 2007. (bell_labs) (link)
all of them
— hm (mi...), February 14th, 2007. (modestmickey) (link)
i, for one, would be delighted if mickey was raped! lol.
lol torture is funny let’s go watch “24”
mickey, yes, a serious issue indeed. that first post of yours was...well...terrible to read.
but try a little tenderness yourself. suicide jokes = not funny.
trees, you are entirely, utterly correct. i was a hypocrite and i apologize.
i find it hard not to become cynical and vile around here.
“around here”?
meaning the internet?
i mean., you aren’t in prison or anything.
Modest Mickey has another stage name now.
He is someone you will never find on the net.
You never him.
I write in different languages. The music you heard is not what I am all about.
It is very little.
I resent being analyzed.
alot of you and the people who are running Google are on a powertrip.
I just want to do music for people who don’t analyze it, but just enjoy it.
I am moving right now.
I am moving to a nice house on a lake and awaiting my Avalon 747 which should be here soon. I am in a place where I can’t record. It is very noisy. That is why I have to move.
People are just sitting back, smug and analyzing and correcting me...with no knowledge of what I know or what I am doing.
I am not here for people to judge. I am not a little boy. I do know that men enjoy picking on people like they are little boys who need to be corrected...but I am not interested in this game anymore. I don’t care if some of you will never find me.
You don’t post really nice comments and there always has to be some kind of negative stick.
YOU will never FIND MY NEW STAGE NAME.
YOU CAN’T JUST ABUSE ARTISTS..AND YOU ARE ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN IN THIS UNMODERATED ABUSE BOARD, CALLED “I LOVE MUSIC.” WHAT A JOKE. HARDLY ANY OF YOU RESPECT ARTISTS.
This subject deserves a better thread than mere Mickey baiting. The idea that anyone who ends up in jail for whatever stupid crime deserves the worse kind of treatment is terrible and depressing and seems to give no thought to the consequences of what happens when these same people leave prison. Where America seems to be now is where the UK is heading and the GBP seem happy to let it.
Even if that is (as many experts believe) a conservative estimate, it translates into a stunning number of victims.
Particularly if you factor in (or out) that a portion of the remainder would be the perpretrators.
The way in which prisoners are treated in the U.S. is nothing short of frightening. I read an article last year in a journal called Class and Society which, okay, is a left-wing British journal, but they had what appeared to be a well-researched article about prisons in the U.S. It talked about the shock that the general public felt when it saw how the prisoners in Abu Ghraib were being treated, and pointed out that many of those guarding those prisoners work as prison officers in the States and have very bad reputations there too.
lThis subject deserves a better thread than mere Mickey baiting.
the only way to do this is to ban him.
Or just talk about the subject without slagging him off?
The idea that anyone who ends up in jail for whatever stupid crime deserves the worse kind of treatment is terrible and depressing and seems to give no thought to the consequences of what happens when these same people leave prison.
i think this implication is what is given the least thought. how can society reasonably expect anybody to be ‘rehabilitated’ in prison after traversing such horrendous circumstances? prison culture leads to a more violent, criminal society. EVERYBODY loses, and for some reason it’s still a funny seinfeld joke.
The way in which prisoners are treated in the U.S. is nothing short of frightening.
Good Frontline shows about US prisons: The New Asylums and Angel on Death Row. Their whole criminal justice series is pretty eye opening.
An Atlantic Article about the US Prison Industrial Complex
It’s terrifying.
how can society reasonably expect anybody to be ‘rehabilitated’ in prison after traversing such horrendous circumstances?
Or, you know, if they won’t let them vote after they get out?
well, just to be fair, there’s a little more nuance to it than that. voting laws are different depending on the state, and in many places they can vote again after getting out.
i think prison rape needs to be addressed and radically changed in popular culture before it even has a possibility of being addressed in the political sphere.
See, I disagree. It needs to be changed institutionally before it can change culturally. That is what I think.
and where will the impetus for politicians come from?
what can politicians do about prison rape, really? if you can think of something, i’d love to hear it
And I think prison rape is a symptom of larger systemic rot within the criminal justice system as a whole and cannot be effectively addressed without getting at the supporting framework!
But we can all at least agree that it’s a terrible thing. And probably that the first step in any solution is awareness of it as an actual problem. I agree w/ Mickey that moving it to the “not okay to make jokes about” list is a good start.
Every year, the DMail has the usual “Huntley in having Christmas Dinner” outrage, immediately followed by “inmates in not having Christmas Dinner so as not to offend muslim inmates” also outrage....
xpost
Well, Jeffrey Archer was all against prison reform until he was an inmate, and then he was all for it.
and where will the impetus for politicians come from?
Well, that’s the question. Because I could ask where the impetus for cultural change will come from if the people who are responsible for the actual care of prisoners don’t take that responsibility seriously. The two things go hand in hand.
I read a journal article recently that suggested that international pressure could be the answer, but the U.S. doesn’t listen to international pressure, so all that can be hoped for is that some politician will make a crusade of it and start the ball rolling.
so all that can be hoped for is that some politician will make a crusade of it and start the ball rolling.
This is pretty OTM. Most voters would bring back flogging; the future is certainly not in the proles.
what can politicians do about prison rape, really? if you can think of something, i’d love to hear it
— Mr. Que (pelagi...), February 14th, 2007. (Party with me Punker)
that’s kind of like taking the position “and how do we successfully end the iraq war? if you can’t figure it out, i guess we have no choice but to stay and do the exact same thing!” as citizens, i don’t think it is our position to figure out the solution. that is what our government is for. we need to recognize the urgency and monstrosity of the situation and give them impetus for change.
but here’s a few suggestions. first, address prison overcrowding. they’re simply too few. there’s two parts of that. first, we need more and larger prisons, and second, we need to not be throwing people in prison who have no business being there. american society at large truly doesn’t understand the extant of that second part. and then, why not have a lot more oversight of prison administration? from what it sounds like to me, the guards and what they do is largely up to their own doing. there’s very little accountability.
as it stands right now, i believe that prison culture perpetuates criminal culture. somebody who is imprisoned is much more likely to be a repeat, and worse, offender, than had they not gone through the prison system of institutionalized rape. so, we’ve created a giant snowball rolling down a mountain. how we stop the rapid growth will be a huge problem, but the first step is addressing that it must be done. right now, even that is miles away.
you want more prisons but then you want less people to go to prison?
yes and yes
also, how do you think the people you threw in jail feel about it? maybe you should write them a letter? care package?
Most voters would bring back flogging
owl.jpg
you know very little about what happened to me. please don’t think you can adequately judge it by a few posts you’ve seen on here. i don’t want to talk about it.
no i was just thinking if you are so curious about it, why not ask them what it is like? it seems like people who are NOT IN prison can only be anecodtal about it. go straight to the source!
you don’t think i spoke with many people who were in prison before? i spent two years thinking i was going there. please don’t make assumptions.
seriously i doubt most people around these parts think about such things, except as a punchline for a joke, so if you really think you are going to get serious responses to this, you are barking up the wrong tree. if you’re so serious about it maybe you should become a prison rape activist.
we need to not be throwing people in prison who have no business being there.
DRUG WAR ETC
if you’re so serious about it maybe you should become a prison rape activist.
— Mr. Que (pelagi...), February 14th, 2007. (Party with me Punker)
this is exactly what i’m thinking about.
i agree with you that there are too many people in prison though. i don’t think the solution is more prisons.
it’s not a pleasant, easy to swallow idea, that’s for sure. but i think that’s the reality of the culture we’ve fostered.
why the assumption that prison is there to rehabilitate?
to draw a parallel with my daily experience, i don’t send unruly students to the principal’s office to “rehabilitate” them, i do it to protect the rest of the class from the consequences of their behavior.
but presumably with the notion that they will at some point return to the class and be better students? as opposed to having the headmaster beat the crap out of them and have them mix with other bad kids and then refuse to go to class ever and mug the other kids on the way home?
prisons don’t rehabilitate=recidivism
prisons do rehabilitate=less recidivism
prinicpals office=not prison
vahid, if prison is only to ‘protect the rest of the class from the consequences of [prisoners’] behavior’ then why do we eventually send them back to the class? it makes no sense. if prisons are not to rehabilitate, then everybody we stick in there should never leave again. it’s the only other solution.
i don’t have that notion at all! frankly, it’s up to the student to make the decision based on the harshness of the consequences. the best we can do is try to communicate with parents and community and set up a system of consequences and rewards that works.
for a lot of students, honestly, it’s easier (and less humiliating) to be getting beat up by the headmaster than getting beat up by math or science lessons.
based on my experience with the school system, i would say the biggest stumbling-block towards rehabilitating “bad students” is convincing them that there are tangible benefits + rewards to working inside the system and following the rules (showing up on time, doing homework, not using class as a hang-out lounge, etc)
is my parallel clear?
man, ILX celebrates Valentine’s Day in style
i love how the person who casually throws out the word “faggot” on this board is so concerned with prison rape. what if the guards were all asian chicks, derek? that would almost make it worthwhile, huh?
prison rape is real and causes death more pain, emotional and physical, than people like you or me and even begin to possibly comprehend. using mean epithets on a messageboard is using mean epithets on a messageboard. asian girls are frequently attractive.
prison rape is real and causes death and more pain, emotional and physical, than people like you or me can even begin to possibly comprehend.
dude shut up.
there are things about going to prison that are WAY WORSE than being raped.
Good thread. I disagree with the idea that we (the citizens who collectively generate “the culture”) are best served by waiting for some crusading politician to fix things. The American political system all but guarantees that no politician will undertake such a crusade without a sense of citizen mandate. They’ll do it only when they think we demand it. Any other approach would be political suicide.
I also disagree with the idea that “the proles” wouldn’t support prison reform aimed at eliminating rape. I suspect that the majority of voters would support such reform, so long as the issue was framed properly. I admit that the distance between here and there is vast. Still, if the citizen activists who pushed for civil rights reform in the 40s and 50s had been deterred by the seeming impossibility of the task, or if they had waited for altruistic politicians to do the heavy lifting, then we might still have colored drinking fountains in Selma.
American prisons will continue to be a sickening national shame only as long as “we the people” continue to stand for it.
***
“there are things about going to prison that are WAY WORSE than being raped.”
— bell labs
??? Please to explain.
being separated from your family and friends.
losing the ability to do the things that make your life meaningful.
these things would be way worse than rape.
I dunno if that’s so...
Frequent, brutal, AIDS-loaded anal rape + getting to do what you want + getting to see friends & fam = bad.
No rape + imprisonment + no friends & fam = bad.
I think any attempt to portray one of these as “WAY WORSE” than the other is kinda silly. Bad = bad.
bell labs i think you’re, um, underestimating the rape a little bit here.
I don’t think underestimation is her problem here.
i’m not saying it’s not bad and scary, it’s rape. it’s horrible.
but, it’s not at the top of the list of things that worry me, my family, or my father, who is going to jail. maybe this is because he will most likely end up in a medium or min security federal prison where it’s not much of a problem, but, i don’t know, he’s much sadder about the fact that he will probably be in his 70s when he gets out and have missed a big chunk of his life.
Prisons are so overcrowded, and so many people who gravitate toward careers in law enforcement and corrections are bullies, it’s no wonder there’s so much brutality.
My two-part solution:
1. Emprisonment should not be punitive, but pragmatic. Only incarcerate people who pose a real danger to society. A mere handful would require incarceration, which would be lifelong, of course, unless a remedy was found for their dangerousness. Prison should be comfortable. Unkindness, even to intractable child-molesters, is unnecessary and corrosive to the morale of society.
2. Hire police and corrections officers by lottery, the way we appoint citizens for jury duty. A two year term of service?
Anyone who WANTS to carry a gun and boss others around IS AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED.
THERE. WHEN I AM QUEEN THAT IS HOW IT SHALL BE.
Beth, Robyn and I have talked so much about this!! That the best people to do the patrolling, martial-type jobs are those with the least natural aptitude for them...lottery style probably less harmful ultimately than life-time career selection? Because having to use force and/or enact RULE OF LAW on people on a first-hand level could really be the ruin of a gentle life.
my father, who is going to jail
that’s terrible, i’m really sorry.
where it’s not AS much of a problem.
rape in prisons shouldn’t happen, rape outside of prisons shouldn’t happen, etc. i’m not opposed to anyone championing this as their cause, i just think things like there are other things to talk about reforming first (i.e. mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent criminals)
Yes, sorry.
Back to runningthe world:
ALSO, forget about the “problem” of gays inthe military. THE MILITARY SHOULD BE ALL DRAG QUEENS.
I also have a really great idea about power plants that would be run by stationary-bicycles, pedaled by addicts. To get a dose of their drug/drink of choice, they need only pedal. They would live there. It would be a comfy place.
THERE!!!!
TERRIBLE PROBLEM OF ADDICTION SOLVED
ALSO TERRIBLE PROBLEM OF FOREIGN OIL, NUKE PLANTS, ETC ETC.
This is how I pass my insomniac hours.
And with all the addicts busy pedalling, the old grannies on police patrol would have quite an easy time of it.
i’m not opposed to anyone championing this as their cause, i just think things like there are other things to talk about reforming first (i.e. mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent criminals)
I don’t think it has to be an either/or situation. Those things all go together.
seriously i doubt most people around these parts think about such things, except as a punchline for a joke, so if you really think you are going to get serious responses to this, you are barking up the wrong tree.
ILE can still sometimes surprise you.
“Anyone who WANTS to carry a gun and boss others around IS AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED.”
OTM.
And weird. I’ve been saying this—in more-or-less exactly those words—for years. The whole problem with cops & copping is that the attraction-points for the job (unquestioned authority, ability to cause fear in others, gun carrying, supertuff macho/hetero image, permission to use threats & even violence) pretty much guarantee that most people who will want the job shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near it.
But as true as that might seem, it’s too simplistic. Law enforment officers sometimes need to to communicate threat (a willingness to do real harm) in order to overcome the belligerence of others without actually resorting to violence. And unfortunately, the best way to communicate threat is to be legitimately threatening—i.e., cops have to mean it when they get tough. Therefore, there’s a legitimate need for a “thuggish” tendency in certain police officers. Catch-22.
How do you balance the need for genuinely threatening cops (as a violence deterrent) with the simple fact that most genuinely threatening people can’t be trusted to montitor and control their own behavior?
The prison system is fundamentally broken. To me, if someone is in prison, it’s because they weren’t able to work within the rules and need to be shown there are ways to work within the rules and work out a life, or they need to be incarcerated because they’ve demonstrated that they have no intention of functioning with the rest of society. It should be the adult version of giving someone a “time out,” not the equivalent of beating the shit out of them every time they do something bad.
That doesn’t even begin to speak to the mentally unwell or mentally incompetent. Yes, having a system of asylums tended toward the “One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest” complex, but many people who would have been there are now either medicated, in jail, or on the street. If you don’t have money or the right background, one of the latter two. Finding someone mentally incompetent is seen as letting them off easy, which is ridiculous since being sent to a mental health facility tends on average to result in longer stays than most jail sentences, and it’s a form of rehabilitation.
So encapsulating it with “prison rape is bad, huh” and drawing attention by highlighting the anal rape accounts diverts from the real issue — prisons aren’t making anything better, they’re just getting more full and destroying lives. Sometimes through inmate-on-inmate violence, sometimes just because it’s the wrong place to send people.
much of this could be prevented if prison cafeterias only served Olestra potato chips
haha
Olestra jokes. Reminds me of watching Letterman in 1997 or something. Good times.
well, it would reduce tearage
Well yeah, indirectly right? I just thought you meant if everyone’s buttholes were inflamed and leaking that the inmates’ collective rape-want would be subdued on account of the unsavory circumstances. But you’re saying Olestra actually works to toughen anuses up?
sorry, i signed an NDA.
I think mike means lubricate.
Oh. Seems like regular-fat potato chips would do a better job of that though. Are there any potato chip eating sodomites here that can help settle this debate?
I would like to thank the last three posters for making this thread awesome.
Regular-fat potato chips don’t cause leakage. Olestra chips do. I’m leaving this conversation right now.
Yeah Olestra chips cause leakage, but does leakage necessarily = lubrication? Diarrhea is mostly a water-based substance! I’m no molecular physicist here, but it seems to me that stool loaded with digested Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion potato chips would probably coat the surface of the anus and yield much slicker, smoother physical properties.
the idea is that olestra is a fat-like substance that is not digestible.
You guys are making me so hungry. Stop it!
Oh OK, I get it then. Olestra will lubricate just as well, but also aids in creating a poopier, less enticing anus, therefore establishing it as an equally delicious rape deterrent superior to regular Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion chips.
Problem solved!
Pringles® rape
“once you pop...”
(I thieved from you ;___;)
I could go for some Flamin’ Hot Anal Cheetos, Cool Felch Doritos, or Chili Cheese Corn and Peas Fritos
you should go eat those then
today my coworker showed me pringles with trivia printed on them
You mean, imprinted on the actual Pringle chip itself?
i could see doing that in the ridges of ruffles
yes
(i.e. mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent criminals)
— bell labs (lindsay...), February 14th, 2007. (bell_labs)
maybe you and i are talking about different things, but the supreme court just recently deemed unconstitutional the mandatory sentencing guidelines. it happened about 6 months before my date. had it not, i was pretty much surely destined for prison. i don’t want to make this thread about me, but damn, that fact still astounds me.
I don’t like the idea of prison ape anymore than anyone else. But if Gorilla Grodd continues his crime sprees what choice do we have?
after some googling, i can only find one thing actually being done:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1003&year=2007
a proposed bill in washington state to basically test for HIV in prisons.
here’s some wa state conservative blog that is outraged by these “felon friendly” bills by democrats:
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that there is a
6 disproportionately high rate of HIV and AIDS among incarcerated
7 persons. Approximately twenty-five percent of the HIV-positive
8 population of the United States passes through correctional facilities
9 each year. The bureau of justice statistics has determined that the
10 rate of confirmed AIDS cases is three times hig11 offenders than in the general population.
Copyright 2006 The Seattle Times Company
The Seattle Times
November 14, 2006 Tuesday
Fourth Edition
SECTION: ROP ZONE; News; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 1390 words
HEADLINE: Rare criminal trial focuses attention on “huge problem” of prison rape
BYLINE: Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times staff reporter
BODY:
Tremayne Francis is a cellmate’s worst nightmare.
Convicted in 1998 of raping two young men while working as a martial-arts instructor in Pierce County, Francis was sent to prison for nine years. But even behind the razor wire, Francis used extortion and violence to force fellow inmates to have sex with him and raped two men new to prison, according to prison records.
When confronted by prison staff, Francis, 34, claimed he had a multiple-personality disorder and denied the rapes, claiming the sex was consensual, records show. Though found guilty of both rapes in prison hearings, the worst punishment he endured was solitary confinement and victim-awareness classes each time ending up back in the general prison population.
But Francis is facing a criminal trial this week in Snohomish County Superior Court for the 2005 rape of an inmate at the Monroe Correctional Complex, the first such prosecution since the state enacted a new federal policy aimed at reducing prison rape. Because of how unusual it is for prison rapes to become the focus of a criminal prosecution, the case has drawn the attention of the state Department of Corrections, as well as prosecutors and inmate-rights groups nationwide.
“We’ve never had a prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault prosecuted in this county before. It just doesn’t happen very often,” said Matt Baldock, the Snohomish County deputy prosecutor who will try Francis. “I have not heard from anybody who has prosecuted a case like this before.”
Baldock says he faces an uphill battle in trying to win a conviction against Francis. He’s certain many jurors seated before him this week will wonder why they should even care what happens to prison inmates.
U GONNA GET RAPED
(xpost to mickey) most judges still follow the sentencing guidelines. booker is even less of an issue in white collar crime, which is what she’s referring to.