Psychologists will quickly tell you that rape is not about sex. It's about power. It's about imposing one's will on another. It's about masking feelings of inadequacy with intimidation about artificially inflating one's low self esteem by abusing someone else. Sex is just a symptom. So it's little wonder that ...

next to the warm sleeping body of my lover

yet alone in the conviction that I am in a prison cell

shut away, suddenly, from all that makes my life.

I sense the great weight of the prison

pressing down on the little box of room I lie in

alone ...

The U.S. has arrived at a critical moment of truth in addressing the sexual violence that plagues its prisons and jails. The failure of Departments of Corrections nationwide to prevent sexual abuse behind bars and to adequately respond to those who have been victimized is receiving national and international attention. ...

The sexual assault of prisoners is one of the largest problems in American prisons and jails today (the lack of adequate medical care is probably the biggest). As regular readers of PLN know, we have had extensive and ongoing coverage of prison rape issues since our inception in 1990. This ...

On September 15, 2005, a federal jury in Columbus, Ohio, awarded $625,000 to a woman who was fondled and digitally raped by a guard at the Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW).

In November 1996, while serving a 1-year sentence at ORW for stabbing her husband, plaintiff Michelle Ortiz was accosted ...

European Court of Human Rights Voids UKs Blanket Bans On Prisoner Voting

by Matthew T. Clarke

On October 6, 2005, the European Court of Human Rights issued a Grand Chamber Judgment holding that Britains blanket ban on incarcerated prisoners voting in elections violated Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of ...

Prisoner release procedures in the Michigan Department of Corrections (DOC) suffer from serious flaws, according to the Intake Processing Unit (IPU). The IPU undertook an audit and review of the way the DOC determined prisoner release dates, and issued its findings in an October, 2005 report. The IPU tested the ...

by John E. Dannenberg

The attorneys who labored twelve years to overturn the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's unconstitutional practice of snatching parolees off the streets and incarcerating them without due process of law [i.e., bed vacancy-driven recidivism] (see: PLN, January, 2003, p.16; April, 2004, p.24; March, 2005, p.1) ...

A battle is raging in Maryland over how best to improve prison safety. Some advocate hiring more guards and medical personnel. Others want to expand prisoner rehabilitation services. Neither side seems to be considering the possibility that both are needed. Meanwhile, violence, neglect, and contraband are on the rise.

I'm ...

On September 13, 2005, Jack Wagner, the Pennsylvania Auditor General issued a report on his audit of Pennsylvania Correctional Industries (PCI). The audit covered, the period of July 1, 2000, through February 18, 2005, and was generally critical of PCI. Jeffery A. Beard, the Secretary of Corrections, agreed that the ...

On October 19, 2005, a federal jury awarded $22,000 in damages to a Georgia prisoner who was beaten by a guard.

Plaintiff Larry Hudson, 45, claimed that on March 7, 2002, while confined in disciplinary segregation, he became involved in a verbal confrontation with guard J. Singleton. According to Hudson, ...

Creek County, Oklahoma, has paid $100,000 to a black man who was severely beaten by a group of white prisoners in the county jail.

Rameses Gibbs, a black man, was arrested on November 22, 2001, on a misdemeanor charge and taken to the Creek County Jail. After he was booked ...

Texas Representative Terri Hodge has been taking heat for (gasp!) helping prisoners and their families, in other words--for doing her job.
Hodge is accused of the following: (1) helping arrange rare face-to-face meetings between parole-eligible prisoners and members of the parole board; (2) helping obtain the dismissal of disciplinary charges ...

Texas Correctional Industries (TCI), the industrial division of the Texas prison system, has been operating as a cut-rate, custom craft-goods supplier for dozens of Texas legislators. One politician furnished his new home with prisoner made goods. The goods include a dining table with hand-carved state seal adornment, ten chairs, bar ...

Bubble-gum-and-baling-wire operation....a risk to public safety over the long term. That's how Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, Washington, described the state prisons current computer system.

"Its a disaster. Its been a disaster for a long time", agreed state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina.

Anderson is a former high-tech management consultant and ...

On December 20, 2005, the county of San Mateo, California, agreed to pay $475,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit involving a mentally ill woman who committed suicide in the county jail.

Angela Ramirez, 23, was imprisoned at the Women's Correctional Center after being sentenced to 120 days on a ...

California Prison Guards Overtime Doubles to $277 Million

The total California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) guard overtime pay in 2005 of $277 million was twice that of 2004. CDCR's 30,000 prison guards averaged $72,000 for the year, gaining about $15,000 each in overtime pay. But the number of ...

On January 25, 2006, a federal court in Wisconsin issued an emergency injunction to prevent the state from discontinuing hormone therapy for three transgender prisoners, despite a new state law banning the therapy.
In January 2006 the Wisconsin legislature enacted the Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act, Wis. Stat. § 302.286(5m). ...

On December 22, 2005, the state of Michigan agreed to pay $365,000 to a boot camp prisoner who was strapped in a restraint chair for six hours and later suffered kidney and liver failure.

Craig Allen Cook II was arrested on June 14, 1999, and imprisoned in the Manistee County ...

by David M. Reutter

A recently-formed Florida prison healthcare corporation is blossoming with new contracts from county sheriffs who decided to change bidding requirements and in one case eliminate cost as a consideration.

The company, Coconut Creek-based Armor Correctional Health Services, is owned by Miami physician Dr. Jose Armas. In ...

The State of Ohio has agreed to pay Nathaniel Lewis, 28, $662,000 for the five years he spent in prison before his conviction was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2002.

While a freshman at the University of Akron (UA), Lewis was convicted of raping another UA freshman, Christine ...

A South Korean company employing 70 prisoners at Jeonju Prison to build precision automobile airbag parts won the Single Parts Per Million certificate of quality from the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Small and Medium Business Association.

The February 10, 2006 award commended management at Jinpyeong, Inc., ...

Six Canadian prisons are paying prisoner tattoo-artists to ply their trade. The experimental government training program was initiated as an attempt to reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

Legal tattooing ensures equipment will be sterile and sanitary. Connie Johannson, assistant warden at Manitobas Rockwood Institution, north of Winnipeg, reasons that ...

Five California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) employees, testifying under subpoena at a February 27, 2006 State Senate Government Oversight Committee hearing, revealed the use-it-or-lose-it practice of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars allotted to prisoner drug treatment programs on such items as guitars, pianos, a portable stage, plasma ...

Arizona: On February 23, 2006, Jamie Wanek, a guard at the Maricopa county jail in Phoenix was charged with 57 felony and misdemeanor counts of having sex with a jail prisoner Joshua Lopez, 30, and bringing him alcohol, drugs and other contraband. Lopez has also been charged with promoting contraband ...