Disputed Study (Justice Depart): Rape Rare in Prisons ($939,233/2 yr)

[rodeodance]

as someone said in the article--this was designed to put the problem away for another 50 years.!! Also "Fleisher has yet to turn over his data for closer examination........."



"Cindy Struckman-Johnson, professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota and one of nine commission members, said Fleisher's 155-page study is not in scientific form. She said there is no literature review, no raw data, and no in-depth explanation of his subjects or research methods."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060117/ap_on_re_us/prisoner_rape&printer=1;_ylt=AplAsXC7tE981fBYpE6C5YhH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Disputed Study: Rape Rare in Prisons

By KIM CURTIS, Associated Press WriterTue Jan 17, 5:22 PM ET

A bitterly disputed, government-sponsored study has concluded that rape and sexual assault behind bars may be rampant in movies and books but are rare in real life.

When inmates have sex, it is usually by choice, and often engaged in as a way to win protection or privileges, said Mark Fleisher, a cultural anthropologist who specializes in prisons and crime at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

He said inmates who cry rape are usually lying and looking for a transfer, money or publicity.
..............

The

[rodeodance]

1. very interesting interpretation of data. maybe so?

.......Fleisher said he spent more than 700 hours interviewing 564 randomly chosen inmates at dozens of institutions across the country. He said he never met anyone who claimed to be a victim of sexual violence.

He said his findings were no surprise to him, though he admitted his conclusion "flies in the face of what everyone believes."

Fleisher said he found that inmates' sexual activity is not "routinely or overwhelmingly violent or aggressive" and sex is "engaged in by men and women who choose it." In his report, he suggested that what outsiders see as rape is regarded differently by inmates.

"Prison rape worldview doesn't interpret sexual pressure as coercion," he wrote. "Rather, sexual pressure ushers, guides or shepherds the process of sexual awakening."

[AlienGirl]

14. So "sexual pressure" is actually GOOD because it helps "sexual awakening"?

What a load of bollocks.

Tucker

[BlueIris]

26. Okay, that part? Made my skin crawl.

"Rather, sexual pressure ushers, guides or shepherds the process of sexual awakening."

AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH.

I think this report should have been titled, "The Case for Rape: Explanations for Why It's Really Okay After All."

[Julius Civitatus]

31. It's quite a piece of work this report

I'm still disturbed the government has actually comissioned this offensive tripe with almost a million of our tax dollars.

By the way, the guy who conducted this "study" (with no scientific data to back it up, research notes, or method), has a website.

Meet professor Mark Fleischer:



http://msass.case.edu/faculty/mfleisher

This is a quote from his bio:

"My profession chose me. I've wanted to do to research and write about gangs and prisons since I was a teenager."

[Julius Civitatus]

22. That report is so incredibly offensive...

Fleisher said he spent more than 700 hours interviewing 564 randomly chosen inmates at dozens of institutions across the country. He said he never met anyone who claimed to be a victim of sexual violence.(...)

Fleisher said he found that inmates' sexual activity is not "routinely or overwhelmingly violent or aggressive" and sex is "engaged in by men and women who choose it." In his report, he suggested that what outsiders see as rape is regarded differently by inmates.

Yeah right!!! This clown went around asking prisoners if they would voluntarily confess to committing the felony of rape, which may actually increase their stay in prison for another decade... and nobody confessed? I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you! What a stupid clown!

Then he says that "rape in prison" is not viewed as rape, but "sex." And he buys this crap! What this clown should have been told before he even started his mendacious, waste-of-taxpayers-money "study" is that in prison, the rapist doesn't consider himself homosexual even when forcing men into sex. The rapist claims the victim was "asking for it." Also, the victim is not referred as "victim of rape," but "punk" or "fag" that wanted it.

Again, what an offensive, disgraceful waste of taxpayers money.

[The Flaming Red Head]

29. So he conducts these interviews while they are still in prison

and wide open to reprisals if they say the wrong thing. Everyone knows the walls have ears in those kind of places.

I think "chosen to engage in sexual activity" would be a more appropriate phrase, than "chose to engage in sexual activity."

If you can't defend yourself, it's not like you have a choice.

[Delphinus]

2. My first impression is

"Ha! What a crock of sh*t!"

I have a feeling that, even after reading the report, my first impression will stand.

[rodeodance]

8. yes, i think me too.

[jimshoes]

3. I bet some repub congressmen

are very relieved to hear that. :evilgrin:

[formercia]

17. It ruined their fantasies

most of those chickenhawks are really bottom subs in their dreams.

[henslee]

4. I know someone who was in a medium security facility for a stretch and

he told me rape was very uncommon -- just in the movies. He never saw a case in 4.5 yrs.Consensual sex did occur. For the record, getting your ass kicked or your crap stolen was common. Tempers could flare, usually over food and commissary. Don't cut in front of a guy who lost his appeal or who's wife just left him. Very often it was the intentional manipulation of bad guards that caused incidents... usually as some sort of LIHOP punishment. Ironically, the muscle bound dudes were most often the worst fighters. And my friend told me some of the most honest, decent men he ever met were in the joint. In a place where they take everything, honor is all you have.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. My buddy did 4 years in NY State mediums (Green and Wyoming)

Said essentially the same thing. Lots of fights, but so many openly gay guys up there that there was little need for rape. Said he never saw or heard of an actual rape in 4 years.

[The Flaming Red Head]

30. Do you think anyone is going to come out and admit it

This is not something you want your best buddy to find out about.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. In all the cases on this board

Nobody said "It didn't happen to me." They said it didn't happen, period. These seem like two very different kinds of statements. The first one would be susceptible to your objection. The second seems infinitely less so.

[BlueIris]

5. "inmates who cry rape are usually lying..looking for..money or publicity"

ACK.

I have seen fewer things more vile this week. Maybe ever. Jesus.

[Julius Civitatus]

21. If you have the stomach, read the HRW report on this issue

That comment is not just vile, is vicious and disturbing.
Check out the thousands of reports that Human Rights Watch has compiled over this matter:

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/voices.html

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html

http://www.hrw.org/prisons/conference.html

[Ignis]

23. Great HRW links, thanks! (NT)

[Julius Civitatus]

35. They truly are disturbing reports

I wonder how there can be such an abysmal difference between the HRW reports (which list thousands of verifiable interviews to victims), and the whitewash of Mark Fleisher which conveniently exonerates the private prison industry of any wrongdoing.

Hmmmm....

I wonder where the money for that research went....

[pinniped]

6. I believe this guy is a moran.

Count 1: --Fleisher has yet to turn over his data for closer examination.--

Count 2: --Fleisher's 155-page study is not in scientific form. She said there is no literature review, no raw data, and no in-depth explanation of his subjects or research methods.--

[princehal]

7. When inmates have sex, it is usually by choice

>When inmates have sex, it is usually by choice, and often engaged in as a way to win protection or privileges

Um, when is "If I can't screw you, you are gonna get your ass kicked" NOT rape?

[slampoet]

9. It just proves......

everybody cares about rape victims unless they have a penis.

[superconnected]

10. prisons are corporations trying to protect themselves from law suits.

This dismissal of prison rape sounds like the guy was paid by coporate lobbiests.

[Loonman]

11. This will get as much attention as female spousal abuse

As in: none.

[ucmike]

13. i knew 2 guys who did prison time

and both said the same thing. i've also heard some radio interviews where hardcore convicts said it didn't happen.

possible urban legend?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

15. Rape happens in prison,

just as it happens outside prison.

It's not "Oz," and my clients told me stories about people who got raped - very often it was the short eyes guys (child molesters), but that was the strange code of justice - protecting children - that sometimes defines inmates.

There's plenty of consensual sex between inmates, and yet, these men would never consider themselves homosexuals or having had a homosexual experience. Outside, in the world, they're just as capable of referring to gays as "faggots," with considerable scorn.

For what it's worth, the same kind of male-male consensual sex takes place on long naval cruises. Again, it's not considered homosexual and it's never discussed afterwards, even among the men.

On the other hand, my partner represented a man who was convicted of rape and murder. The man screamed that he was innocent from beginning to end, had a good alibi, etc., but got convicted anyway. First night in prison, he had all his teeth knocked out, was sodomized in both ways by a host of inmates, and was repeatedly raped during his time there.

Ultimately, someone else confessed to the crime for which he'd been imprisoned. When he was released (and pardoned), he also got a considerable financial settlement from the Commonwealth for wrongful imprisonment - he was in about seven years.

He was also HIV-Positive and died a year after his release.

[thecai]

16. What A CROCK!

Rape and violence occur every day in American jails and prisons. Many rapes are committed by GUARDS. Most inmates are threatened for reporting the abuse, and many are too humiliated to report it.

[USA_1]

18. Unfortunately, that is true.

I once had a co-worker whose husband was a probation officer. He told her that a teenager who was in prison had been repeatedly raped by the guards. The probation officer went to court to try to get the kid out of prison but the judge refused to believe his story. When the kid found out he would have to stay in prison and get raped again he committed suicide.

[Julius Civitatus]

19. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch think otherwise:

Here are their very revealing REPORTS. It may surprise many people who read them. According to Amnesty International, the US prison population is one of the largest in the planet, and prisoners are left on their own, without many legal resources. Some American prisons are at the level of those in third world countries:

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views01/0315-04.htm

According to Human Right Watch (HRW), rape is not just very common in American prisons, but the authorities ignore it since it's assumed it "should be" part of the prison experience (the infamous "lock them up, throw away the key" mentality). Many people in America deeply believe prison rape is a non-written part of the sentence of the "bad guys":

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/voices.html

http://www.hrw.org/prisons/conference.html

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/index.htm

The report on the Justice Department not only is negligent, is an insult in the face of overwhelming evidence. This, in other words, means that the Bush administration think prison rape is ok, not a problem to be bothered with. Otherwise there would be too many lawsuits to settle due to negligent security in prisons.

Of course, the sons of prominent Republican lawmakers never end up in prison when they are caught with drugs or drunk-driving. Regular, every day Americans, specially those of African descent, are thrown in jail easily, left to fend for themselves in a Dantesque sub-human underworld that nobody cares about. Abandoned on their own, forgotten. This is the other side of the police state we are quickly turning into.

[Rex]

20. Yeah, why not just go full blown, moose looneytunes?

I mean, the shit from the WH is SO over the top crazy nowadays, why not a study that says, "hey jail ain't that bad". Rape is rampant in US prisons, anyone who says otherwise has an agenda.

[formercia]

25. not to mention the HIV transmission.

that goes untreated.

[Solly Mack]

24. Morons - the coercion makes it rape

feeling threatened is being terrorized and exploited...no one can give consent under such duress

cruel fucks

[The Flaming Red Head]

27. Nah (I know they hate anecdotal evidence) But

I watched someone who went to jail at 18 totally self destruct after he got out, because he was sent to serve with hard timers and it was his first offense. He got out in a couple of years, but was never the same. He died in his early 30s. Gang rape is very common in prisons, especially if you put the very young in the wrong community. He never committed another crime to do any more hard time, but he did commit suicide in the end, because he couldn't deal with what had happened to him. And he didn't seek publicity or money and was horrified that anyone might find out.

[brentspeak]

28. Almost a million dollars,

but done unscientifically, according to the professor. More dollars for Bush cronies?

[Julius Civitatus]

32. Heck of a job, Brownie

He sure has a passing resemblance to Mike Brownie too:


Mark Fleisher

[Raster]

34. It does happen. There is a difference between state and fed and

the security level in both. However, rape in prison is a fact of life. It happens. The government and prisons will tell you differently because of their complicity and liability. Sounds like fleischer is someone's bitch, probably the private prison company's.