In a country where even children tell “don’t drop the soap” jokes, prison rape is undoubtedly not taken seriously in pop culture. But for the first time, a New York Senate hearing took place to discuss sexual abuse behind bars – and the exposed truth is shocking.
In NY prisons, almost 80% of sexual abuse claims have been made against prison STAFF, not other incarcerated people. For jails, that number is 70%. And that’s only what’s been reported.
But why is this so important?
American culture assumes that people in prisons are “bad people” who deserve punishment, and that sexual assault is largely committed by other incarcerated people.
Those assumptions not only strip us of empathy for rape victims, but leave out a key truth about the experience of the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people sexually abused a year.
Only 1% of staff found committing sexual assault get convicted, and countless others look the other way when an incarcerated person does assault another incarcerated person. Prison doesn’t prevent rape from happening, or grant rape survivors justice – it’s an environment that encourages rape.
In this country, it's “normal” to dehumanize incarcerated people and fan the flames of rape culture. But sexual abuse in prisons isn’t normal, or the fault of people incarcerated in them – sexual abuse in prisons is an institutional violation of human rights!