Prison rape constitutes unusual punishment
by Brian Shults, se news editor

    In the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights bans cruel and unusual punishment to be exacted on criminals who are tried and convicted before our sovereign court system.

   Confinement in prison does not fit the standard of cruel and unusual.

   Most everyone agrees with that assessment.

   In Texas we view capital punishment, state-sponsored executions, as acceptable punishment, but what about the depravity going on within the prison system? What about prison rape?

   This issue has shot into our living rooms through media exposes, movies and, more recently, television depictions.

   We can comfortably experience disgust and any moral indignation from home and curl up in our beds, not giving the problem another thought.

   After all, these victims are merely prisoners—prisoners who, after they are released, will likely pass us law abiding citizens on the street several times a day for the rest of our lives.

   In our own backyard of Wichita Falls, a lawsuit was recently filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) on behalf of Roderick Johnson.

   Johnson, being human, falls into numerous categories. He is black, gay, a non-violent criminal and a sexually abused prisoner.

   Furthermore, he is a 33-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, a son, a native Texan and a person protected under the Bill of Rights.

   Johnson has been experiencing our justice system in all its provincial splendor.

   Texas was recently named in the Human Rights Watch’s 2001 report as allowing the most prison rapes in the country.

   The most egregious travesty of this case is not that a gay, minority man was raped in prison. The most egregious travesty is that he was singled out by prison authorities and allowed to be raped because he was a gay African American.

   The suit against the TDCJ maintains that prison security and administration personnel were indifferent to permitting gang members to prostitute Johnson for $5-$10, virtually everyday.

   Johnson did not sit back and keep silent.

   He reportedly told prison officials of his sexual orientation upon incarceration, asking for appropriate quarters.

   Johnson also complained and appeared before the prison’s classification committee seven times pleading to be placed in safer living conditions.

   Instead of granting his request, the committee berated him, reportedly calling him a “dirty tramp” and even going so far as to say, “There’s no reason why black punks can’t fight if they don’t want to f—.”

   This case is but one person’s experience.

   Our society is mired in such abuses because of our apathetic sadism. If it’s not happening to us, it’s not happening to anyone.

   The underlying issue governing our apathy may be our outlook on prisoner accountability for the crimes they commit.

   Our society should make every possible effort to stave off moral hypocrisy.

   The United States should guarantee criminals not be subjected to the same brand of crimes we incarcerate them for.

   Our society must be brutally honest with itself: Do we want to rehabilitate criminals or do we want simple retribution?

   In the current system, despite the myth of posh cells and cable TV, we succeed quite well in punishment.

   Unfortunately, the U.S. justice system lacks in the rehabilitation department—the department that stops some of these prisoners from posing a threat to you and me when they get out.

   I think we can establish order, minimize violence reduce rape within our prisons and prepare these individuals for life in ours and their society.

   The retribution portion of a criminal’s sentence is inherent to being in a jail, sitting in a room of bricks and bars all day.

   As it stands today, we might very well be sending our tax dollars to prisons in order to build bigger, better and more brutal criminals.