A promise of protection from retaliation is virtually meaningless: If she reports misconduct she will have to live with the day-to-day fear that he, or his friends and colleagues, will make her life a living hell, including being the target of false disciplinary charges. But the video ignores prison reality: A prisoner is not allowed to disobey an officer's order. The video tells women to refuse an officer's advances, with vague assurances that DOCCS will protect them from retaliation. While we appreciate DOCCS’s effort, the video does not make much of an effort to convince women that DOCCS understands what women are up against when they've been abused by staff: The power differential, the fear of retaliation and the reality that women prisoners are not believed when they actually do report staff abuse. I'd like to see an additional video about this form of abuse.ĭori Lewis and Veronica Vela, attorneys with the Prisoners' Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society. Because the data is quite robust and runs counter to assumptions, this phenomenon needs to be brought forward and addressed. We have to be careful not to police all intimate relationships among inmates.įinally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics data has consistently shown that male inmates are more likely to be sexually victimized by staff than by other inmates. I'm concerned about homophobia and overzealousness that might unnecessarily patrol consensual relationships, which do take place in prisons. I'll just note that I was concerned to hear one of the women inmates say, “It's rare you see healthy relationships” inside. Reluctance to report has long been a major obstacle, and inmates urging others to speak out is powerfully important.
Secondly, the work that the videos do to dismantle the so-called “code of silence” is vital. Hearing from “one of our own” makes it more likely inmates will take heed. The interviews with the inmates themselves, as opposed to a more artificial approach or one that simply recites policy, is a brilliant strategy. (Stemple is the former executive director of Stop Prisoner Rape.) Lara Stemple, Director, Health & Human Rights Law Project, UCLA School of Law.
The videos, these critics say, are an attempt to change the culture of the inmates, by helping them identify predators and by attempting to convince them that reporting sexual assault “is not snitching.” But such an approach may not make a dent in prison rape unless it is coupled with a more concrete effort, on the part of DOCCS, to hold itself accountable – by installing more cameras in facilities and by consistently punishing staff who take advantage of inmates.īelow, a further selection of the responses, both laudatory and skeptical, to these unusual videos. More likely 2According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this includes sexual encounters between female staff and male inmates, which are regarded by law as abuse even if ostensibly consensual.
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