Female Prisoner Impregnated by Correctional Officers - Article Example

Female Prisoners Sexually Abused and Sold by Correctional Officers Female Prisoners Sexually Abused and Sold by Correctional Officers Introduction Women have been housed in separate correctional facilities from those of men since the 1870s. The first women prison to be built in the United States was the Mount Pleasant Female Prison, which is based in Ossining, New York. Correctional facilities are meant to change offenders from their mindsets and become responsible citizens. On the other hand, in some facilities, prisoners become hardcore criminals because the officers charged with the responsibility of rehabilitating them abuse them. In most western countries, female guards are used for guarding women prisoners. This implies that men do not have direct contact with female inmates. In the United States, male guards were not allowed to come into direct contact with female prisoners until 1964 Civil Rights Act (Figueira-McDonough & Sarri, 2002). About forty percent of women prison guards were men, and they had direct contact with the prisoners by the year 2007. The United States had 93,031 prisoners by the end of 2001. Women are incarcerated because of the increased war on drugs. The rapid increase of the population of women prisoners was not anticipated by the male dominated prison industry. Although United States prisons are for correcting offenders, most of the female prisons lack the facilities of accommodating healthcare, mental, and social needs of the prisoners (Parker, 2002). Female Prisoners Sexually Abused and Sold by Correctional Officers Experiences of Men and Women in Prison The number of women prisoners has been on the rise over the recent years in the United States but most of them do not face violent charges as opposed to men. Women prisoners have different experiences to those of men because women menstruate, and are very much affected by losing their children to Child Protective Services (Parker, 2002). Majority of women convicts are sexually or physically abused before they are convicted or are drug addicts. Men make up the majority of prisoners in the United States but the rate of the increase of number of women prisoners is worrying because it is more than that of men. Incarcerated women tend to form structures similar to those of families in a bid to ensure that they live, as they would have in the society. On the contrary, men become aggressive and isolate themselves from the other inmates (Rudolf, 2012). Increase in the number of female prisoners has resulted in the need of increased number of prison staff. Men are not emotionally or physically affected by incarceration as women are. This is because women are faced with the daunting task of facing sexual abuse in prisons. This can be attributed to the fact that the number of men staffing women prisons has been on the rise and as a result, women are more exposed to rogue officers as opposed to before. Male guards are the main members of staff in female facilities unlike in other countries such as Canada where the authorities insist that females should guard their colleagues. Men do not have a problem when body searches are conducted by their fellow men but this is a problem when the same is done to women by men. Moreover, a problem arises when the guards are white and the female inmates are from minority ethnic groups (Figueira-McDonough & Sarri, 2002). Sexual Abuse Women are more vulnerable to sexual abuse than men are. Numerous researches have revealed that women are more likely to be sexually abused when in prison and even before they are incarcerated. Sexual abuse and aggression from the male staff is very widespread in the United States. The Bureau of Justice Statistics notes that about 216,600 prisoners were sexually molested while in jails or prisons. This trend is worrying because it amounts to 600 people in a day. Some of the most common sexual offenses among women prisoners are groping during searches, assault, and rape. In addition, some male prison staff do not respect the rights of women’s privacy because they watch them undress, visit the bathroom, and during showering time. Studies have established that women who have had prior sexual abuse experiences are easy targets because they believe that, accepting the coercion would reduce the amount of violence to be done. This implies that such women do not resist as much as those who have never been through such experiences. Moreover, most US federal prisons have a seventy percent male population, which gives men an added advantage because they are able to harass women and hide the truth. The fact that male guards have access to personal information of inmates enables guards to find the most vulnerable women. This implies that in order to protect inmates from rogue guards, only senior officers should be allowed the access of these files (Parker, 2002). Prison Rape Elimination Act was signed into law by President Bush in 2003. This act aims at addressing prisoners’ rape legally; studying the trends of prison rape, and coming up with guidelines of how the issue, could be sorted. It is worth noting that the act targets prisoner-to-prisoner assaults and does not address women facilities because it is focused on male prisoners. The Office of the Inspector General and that of the DOJ reported that sexual abuse was widespread but only a fraction of the legally addressed cases resulted in convictions. In 2006, sexual contact was criminalized and convicts could face up to five years in prison. Out of correctional staff that has been mentioned as sexual offenders, only twenty-three percent were arrested, forty percent were prosecuted and only three percent convicted, indicted, or charged. On the contrary, fifteen percent were allowed to continue with their jobs. This implies that the rights of women prisoners are immensely abused in the United States (Parker, 2002). Parker (2002) notes that the District of Columbia has one of the most horrendous living prison conditions in the United States. The prisons are notorious for sexual abuse, rape, torture, insufficient medical care, and unacceptable physical conditions and overcrowding. Female inmates are the most affected because of their physical needs that cannot be met by the prison facilities. The judicial system has been unable to address the problems faced by female prisoners in the hands of male correctional staff. In the District of Columbia, several correctional facilities house female inmates. Since majority of female prisoners serve non-violent offenses, they are kept in medium security prisons. It is worth noting that majority of women prisoners in the district are because of drug related cases. In addition to the horrible living conditions experienced by women in the prisons, their greatest fear is that of sexual harassment from male guards (Zaitzow & Thomas, 2003). A lawsuit filed by several women inmates in the District of Columbia revealed that male prison staff were used to forcing women to engage in nude dancing. In both Daskalea and Newby cases, inmates were forced to dance while nude in front of cellblock population. In addition, they were required to perform lewd acts on various dates during the year 1995. The courts established that officers abused the Eighth Amendments and this was a violation of the rights of the citizens. Lawsuits filed against guards in District Columbia have established that guards force women inmates into rape, exotic dancing sodomy, and fondling (Parker, 2002). In addition, the courts ruled that the authorities were inadequately responding to women complaints and no concrete solutions were provided to the offenders. Correctional facilities in the district did not improve the monitoring conditions for women inmates. It is of paramount importance to note that even when cases of asexual harassment are brought before courts, it is very difficult to convince the jury that these things happens in everyday prison life in the District of Columbia. There are several federal and state laws, which are meant for protecting female prisoners that are hardly followed. Proving that one has been harassed is very hard and this is the main reason why many male guards are not afraid to assault female prisoners (Zaitzow & Thomas, 2003). The Eighth Amendment The United States’ Eighth Amendment guarantees that the government should not inflict any unusual or cruel punishments to any person including the incarcerated ones. Moreover, the constitution provides inmates with the right to sue for legal redress against any violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court has set guidelines, which must be fulfilled by any inmate suing for violations against the Eighth Amendment. The requirements are very many and inmates find it difficult to meet all of them. The loophole is used by male guards to harass women prisoners (Zaitzow & Thomas, 2003). The Supreme Court established that there must be a demonstration of deliberate indifference towards harming an inmate in order for it to be a violation of the Eighth Amendment. This implies that an inmate suing for violation against the Eighth Amendment must prove that the officer involved acted in a deliberate manner with intent of causing harm to the prisoner. The state of the guard’s mental condition should also be verified in order to ensure that she or he did not commit the offense willingly. This complicates the interpretation of the law and makes it very difficult for inmates to prove that they were hurt by guards even when there are clear signs of physical injuries. The Supreme Court has established that when an inmate is subjected to one case of rape, this cannot amount to violation of Eighth Amendment because the officers in the correctional facility did not have a prior knowledge of the risk. This is despite the fact that officials are aware of sexual abuses in prisons but they do not protect female inmates from abusive colleagues. In Carrigan vs. State, the court established that it was impossible to convict an officer who had raped a female inmate because the guard did not have a prior knowledge of the intent of hurting the inmate (Parker, 2002). The Physical Litigation Reform Act, which was passed into law by the congress in 1996, declares that it is impossible for a prisoner to bring any Federal civil action for emotional or mental injury that was suffered while in custody without showing prior physical injury. Raped and sexually harassed women find it very hard to demonstrate any signs of prior injury. Intimidation is usually accompanied with sexual harassment because officers do not want their victims to report them to the authorities. This makes it difficult for female victims to prove physical injuries because they get the opportunity for legal redress after many years of the crime. Although the inmates and guards know that it is wrong to be sexually abused, it is very hard to prove the claims (Parker, 2002). Although in some cases women inmates might become intimate with male guards willingly, in other instances sexual encounters are forced. Officers are known to force female inmates who have never loved or wanted to have sex with them. Officers assign inmates duties, which give them the best opportunity of raping them. Such duties are located in isolated places whereby it would be difficult for the inmate to get any help or witnesses. Prison authorities strictly prohibit even consensual sex between guards and inmates. Despite this fact, these actions are very common as officers exchange sexual favors with smuggling of contraband gods. Tutwiler holds around seven hundred inmates and it is regarded as the most notorious female prison in the United States. Verbal abuse, loss of privileges, or solitary confinement is used to intimidate inmates who report abuses to the seniors at the correctional facility. This discourages many victims from reporting their ordeals at the hands of the male guards (Rudolf, 2012). Conclusion The United States constitution guarantees the rights of every person regardless of whether he or she is incarcerated or not. Although men face many hardships when in prison, women are faced with the risk of sexual abuse especially from male guards because they form the majority of staff in female prisons. Other countries such as Canada ensure that women are the staff of female prisons. This goes a long way in reducing sexual abuse in those countries. Although majority of victims report their ordeals in the United States, it is almost impossible to meet the guidelines, which have been put in place by the Supreme Court. Guards take advantage of the loopholes in the law to harass women because they know there hare little chances of conviction. Female inmates on the other hand do not have the motivation of reporting their ordeals because they know that chances of receiving justice are almost zero. The government should come with clear laws, which the women inmates can use to ensure that they are not subjected to abuse by guards. References Figueira-McDonough, J. & Sarri, J. F. R. C. (2002). Women at the Margins: Neglect, Punishment, and Resistance. New York: Routledge. Parker, C. P. (2002). “Female Inmates Living in Fear.” Sexual Abuse by Correctional Officers in the District of Columbia.” Journal of Gender, Social & the Law, 10(2): 443-477. Rudolf, J. (09 Nov. 2012). "Huff Post Crime." Alabama Womens Prison Inmates Sexually Abused By Guards, Report Says. Retrieved 09 Nov. 2012 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/22/alabama-womens-prison-sexual-abuse_n_1537623.html Zaitzow, B. H., & Thomas, J. (2003). Women in prison: Gender and social control. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner. Read More