Inmate Abuse In Prisons

Although women can be perpetrators, they are more often the victims of abuse than men. According to Blair, McFarlane, Nava, Gilroy, and Maddoux (2015), 92 percent of domestic violence offenders are male (p. 23).

Male victims are often unrecognized by the media, because they do not fit the stereotype that is set. Again, it’s been drilled into our heads that men are the perpetrators and women are the victims. Men are supposed to be strong, while women are weak, making them the easier target. How could a male be a victim of abuse? According to the media, there is no way men can be victims alongside women.

Despite the fact that my parents have worked in the criminal justice system for many years, I have never given much thought to the treatment of prisoners. As we learned from the readings, the current state of the United States criminal justice system is imperfect to the point of cruelty to those involved in it. This is truer for individuals with a mental illness. Due to a lack of psychiatric facilities throughout Alabama and overcrowding of those that do exist, many criminal offenders with mental illnesses are sent to prisons instead. State prisons are currently overcrowded, leading to substandard conditions such in almost every aspect.

Furthermore, one of the greatest problems for incarcerated women is sexual and physical abuse from correctional officers. Men are responsible for the majority of the abuse

Burton, Miller, and Shill (2002) found that sex offenders were more likely to be sexually abused compared to nonsexual offenders. Specifically, they were more often related to their perpetrators, experienced longer durations of abuse, were manipulated through the use of force, and penetration occurred. Forcefulness, or the method of operation, and gender may identify individuals who are more susceptible to carrying out sexual crimes. For example, a victim who experiences the use of favors or games as a method of manipulation is less likely to commit sexual crimes. Whereas a victim that experiences threats or physical force is

Simply because inmates are smaller, weaker, or more intimidated by the cell and cellmates they are assigned, they are ultimately categorized as “victims” of these ghastly assaults and thus, their “femininity” determines their fate. Despite the high number of these crimes committed each year, the flawed system in which these facilities are run have yet to truly recognize the danger and harm that is placed upon these male prisoners. Joanne Mariner’s article is therefore an effective attempt to spark reform within the system; just because these inmates have been convicted of crimes does not mean they should not get the proper treatment and justice they too deserve.

Most research indicates that about ninety percent of juvenile sex offenders are male. However, there is also research indicating there may be a considerable underrepresentation of the female juvenile offender in data. According to Schwartz, Cavanaugh, Pimental, and Prentky, although the vast majority of sexually aggressive youth are male, the proportion that is female appears to be much greater than is commonly observed among adult sex offenders, which may indicate that abuse by adolescent females is reported at a significantly lower rate than abuse by male adolescents (2006). One explanation for this is that the general public tends to struggle with the idea that a young woman could be capable of such perverse behavior. It should also be considered that male victims may have more difficulty reporting a sexual crime against them when the perpetrator is someone that society has taught them is the inferior gender (Hendriks, Bijleveld 2006). As a whole, female abusers have been researched very little, and juvenile female abusers have been virtually ignored in the field of criminological study.

Prison rape in jail can ultimately bring hierarchy between the weaker and the stronger. Although many would believe rape offenders in men’s prisons are mainly homosexuals, studies have shown that homosexuals are more likely to be sexually abused than perpetrators. In prison it is actually known that men become rapists to overpower their victims. Patriarchal systems of power, male incentive to overpower the weaker, exist both outside and inside of jail. In any community, women are seen as weak; therefore, men tend to overpower women. Most prisoners have this same mentality; therefore since there are no women to overpower they decide to suppress the weaker or smaller sized inmates. Victims are also effeminized and given tasks to perform such as cleaning dishes and cooking food. Physiologists believe that prison rape is not caused by the lack of women, but “mainly as a means by which people who have been stripped of control over the most basic aspects of their lives- when to eat a meal, take a shower, or watch TV- can reclaim some sense of power.”(Brook) According to Wilbert Rideau, a Louisiana prisoner wrote “the

Violent male sex offenders reported high rates of inmate-on-inmate victimization (Beck & Johnson, 2012). The longer the time served, the more likely that the rate of sexual victimization increased. The highest rates of misconduct were reported by state prisoners who served in 5 or more facilities. Almost 44 percent of male and 74 percent of female victims reported that victimization occurred in the first prison facility

When an individual decides to be a part of a gang they are subject to being victimized at one point or another. Whether an individual is part of a street gang or a prison gang victimization can occur once or multiple times. Fox et al., studies prison inmates and how gang membership and non-gang membership amongst those inmates' leads to crime victimization (Fox et al., 2012). The authors indicate that prior empirical studies have only begun to touch the surface on this subject especially with special populations like prison inmates (Fox et al., 2012). The aims of this study are to identify what the characteristics are in regards to victimization for gang and non-gang inmates as well as what the descriptors are amongst gang membership when

Oppression is commonly defined as a prolonged unjust treatment or control. It's where one group dominates another or when one team has unfair advantages and power over another. We live in a society where people of a particular race are denied opportunities and equality. Because of social inequalities, specific groups of people are discriminated against, mistreated and oppressed. This oppression happens because of the inequalities of the system that assists the upper classes at the price of lower levels. Most of these individuals are minorities like myself are in the lower class which are also communities of color. Minorities will not benefit from these systems if those privileged keep making the rules. The social class is set up in a way where it's impossible or challenging to climb the social ladder through exploitation in our institutions.We live in a society where people of a particular race are denied opportunities and equality because of social inequalities, specific groups of people are discriminated against, mistreated and oppressed as I experienced

Mental Illness in our prison systems is often times overlooked and maybe even misunderstood. Is it because our prison systems are so overcrowded that the resources and medical staff needed do not want to deal with the mental issues prisoners suffer? Maybe it is because society would rather ignore, or “sweep under the rug”, inmates with mental health issues because they have committed a crime. Do they not deserve the same care and attention as other mental health patients? Perhaps, one of the reasons statistics are so high for repeat offenders is because of untreated/undetected mental health issues. In the following pages,

The population at the prison is growing dramatically in the US. In 2013 the population in at the US State and Federal prisons were nearly 1.6 million inmates. Many inmates are serving long sentence at these facilities, and many of them are not immune to violence. In fact, most prisoners are still committing crimes within the walls of the correctional. There’s many factor contributing causes for violence, either between prisoners or between inmates and prison staff.

When we do research on daily prison life, we come across two typical but less than ideal situations: either social imaginaries cloud our judgment or information provided by the prisons themselves hide certain weak or bad aspects that they do not want to make public. We can also find information on TV, but most of the time it either exaggerates or minimizes the facts. In order to obtain more reliable information, we have to have access to people who are working or have worked in this institution, and such will be the sources of this essay. We will be describing and giving examples of prison violence according to three types of violence: sexual, physical and psychological violence.

It is noted in research that women inmates are seven times more likely to experience sexual abuse, and four times more likely to experience physical abuse compared to male offenders (CASA, 2010). According to the research of Chesney-Lind and Pasko (2004) every 15 seconds a woman is beaten, and in the year 1999 85% of domestic violence victims were in fact women. In a qualitative Canadian study on women who use drugs and work in the sex trade, it was found that men condone their use of drugs by supplying them, and support their work in the sex trade. It was noted that in these relationships “violence - both physical and sexual - is common and the experience of and the threat of violence serves to marginalize women further” (Azim, Bontell and Strathdee, 2015, p.17). An interesting perspective on the victimization of women offenders is noted by Grant (2007) where she refers to the victimization of female offenders not only in the general society, but within the criminal justice system in correctional facilities. She articulates the victimization of women by male guards in prisons, in which case “some women are coerced into sex for favors such as extra food or personal hygiene products, or to avoid punishment” (p.138). Grant (2007) in her research articulates how the victimization of women is essentially overlooked in prison, she refers to the Bureau of Justice Statistics showing that women are overrepresented in comparison to other populations in prison to be victims of sexual abuse, making up 46% of victims of abusive sexual contacts in state prisons, and 28% in local jails. Due to the overt existence of the victimization of women offender’s drug abuse may be used as a coping strategy for these women. (Voorhis, Wright, Salisbury, and Bauman,