There must be a different version of “swift and decisive” action in the government rulebook then in the one from which I call the plays. When the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics concludes that “more than 9,000 young people in custody and found that 12 percent reported being sexually abused one or more times, mainly by staff members,” swift and decisive action seems the least we can do.
It’s not that the report is really shocking. It’s not like we weren’t aware that the problem existed, though some may quibble about the scope of the problem. But now that the report is out, it’s on our radar, we know that prison staff are regularly sexually abusing children, there is no choice but to stop it. So what’s the government answer? According to the New York Times:
The commission said that corrections facilities must make it easier for victims to report abuse without fear of reprisal and promptly and thoroughly investigate all rape claims. It said that prison employees must be better screened before they are hired, and they must be better trained in how to deal with vulnerable young people.
The commission also called on state corrections agencies to develop written zero-tolerance rules for employees of adult and juvenile facilities — and write those rules into union contracts. Employees must be put on notice that they will be held accountable if they participate in sexual assaults or look the other way when they occur.
Not exactly earth-shattering. Is there a amount of tolerance that prison guards today think is acceptable for raping children? Are the Unions in favor of child-raping members? Is it hard to figure out that the people charged with overseeing juveniles in prison should be screened for their sexual indulgences?
What part of this required a study? What part of this presents difficulty? How many raped children are acceptable in our prisons?
But it gets worse, when it becomes clear that the Times’ editorial isn’t decrying the fact that this sexual abuse has been happening forever under the noses of our fine government, or that Congress gave the government six years to figure out what to do about this well-known problem. Nope, that’s not the concern at all.
What part of this required a study? What part of this presents difficulty? How many raped children are acceptable in our prisons?
But it gets worse, when it becomes clear that the Times’ editorial isn’t decrying the fact that this sexual abuse has been happening forever under the noses of our fine government, or that Congress gave the government six years to figure out what to do about this well-known problem. Nope, that’s not the concern at all.
The 2003 law gave the United States attorney general until June of this year to evaluate the commission’s findings and issue new rape-prevention standards. But juvenile justice advocates worry that the Justice Department will allow state corrections officials to water down those requirements, partly by arguing that they will be too expensive to implement. The department should not allow that to happen. If it does, Congress will have to strengthen the legislation. Zero tolerance for abuse in prisons or juvenile facilities must be the law of the land.Let’s not concern ourselves with the kids being raped from 2003 to June of 2010, whilst the government studies the problem. These things take time, you know. After all, prison guards raping children is a very difficult problem to address, right?
This is nuts. Kids are being rapes by prison staff and our government wants another study to come up with brilliant ideas like the need to train staff that raping children isn’t acceptable behavior?
Put in cameras everywhere. Any staff member sexually abusing a child is prosecuted for the child rapist he/she is. Any staff member that knows of it, allows it, turns his head the other way, is prosecuted for acting in concert. Enhance the penalties for prison staff who sexually touch a child, and let them enjoy the cool breeze of the yard while informing the other inmates of their proclivities. But allowing this to continue while it’s being studied is insane. Suggestions that guards might not be aware that raping children is a bad thing is absurd. Oh yes, and it would be nice to vet them in the hiring process to eliminate those who might be inclined to rape children. That would seem wise, and it only took a six year study to come up with this brainstorm.
If there has to be a sex offender registry, let it be the roster of prison staff. This must stop immediately. This isn’t a money issue. It’s hard enough to stop sexual abuse between juvenile inmates, but there can be no tolerance from the staff. And no excuses.
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Well, Scott, you do have the problem of the allegation of rape and sexual abuse being very easy to level and almost impossible to disprove, which puts a lot of power in the hands of the inmate population which is, on the whole, untrustworthy even if they are juveniles.
At least, this is the problem the government sees and is trying, in their creaky way, to address.
Let me put it another way. An allegation by a prison guard that an inmate has committed some offense is regarded with extreme credulity. An allegation by an inmate that a prison guard has committed some offense is treated with extreme skepticism. In virtually every case, the word of the official is going to be credited over the word of the inmate.
This is the basic problem, and I don’t see it changing any time soon. Cameras everywhere sort of addresses this problem, but one side has control of the cameras and the other side doesn’t.
Maybe the real issue is official dishonesty, and the prison rape problem is a subset of that. But we’re quite tolerant of official dishonesty, from the president on down.
I don’t doubt that you’re correct, and frankly, it’s a clear flaw in the underlying study which is based upon unproven (and unprovable) complaints. But I similarly don’t doubt that the problem of sexual abuse/rape of juvenile inmates by staff exists, and to a significant extent.
What I can’t contenance is that the official answer is to study it and make inane recommendations. If it’s happening, it must be stopped. Immediately. It is intolerable. And here’s the kicker: there is absolutely no excuse or explanation that justifies a single rape of a child inmate. So unlike police misconduct, where we question whether it was a righteous beating, there is no “righteous rape” and no question that it cannot happen.
Sure, cops NEVER lied until there was video.
Cameras are cheap, and should be installed.
From what I have found by looking around the net is that as hard as it was to get rid of pedophile priests, it’s gonna be 10 times worse to get rid of predator cops/corrections.
They always use the claim of safety for the excuse of stripping people naked, even though one sheriff’s site claimed they hadn’t found a weapon in YEARS with strip searches. (Like since metal detectors?)
A guy that claimed to work in corrections said it was “necessary” because detectors didn’t pick up sharpened toothbrushes. (IE Plastic)
But he talking max prisons, and I’m talking about city/county jails.
Misdemeanor arrests would hardly have a sharpened toothbrush up their butts!
But I am baffled as to how to go about stopping these abuses & getting the perverts caught & punished.