Tag: Articles

Why Prison Rape Goes On by Chandra Bozelko

prisonrape

The following post was written by a former inmate and talks about her experiences witnessing prison rape while incarcerated in a Connecticut women’s prison. 

Prison rape and various other forms of corruption have become a widespread issue within the United States prison system.

Learn more about President Obama’s program to stop prison rape.

Visit: The Novo Foundation

philodaria's avatarFeminist Philosophers

Chandra Bozelko, a former inmate, has an op-ed in the New York Times titled, ‘Why We Let Prison Rape Go On,’ in which she explores why, even 12 year since the Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed, sexual assault in American prisons remains so widespread.

Ultimately, prisons protect rape culture to protect themselves. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about half of prison sexual assault complaints in 2011 were filed against staff. (These reports weren’t all claims of forcible rape; it is considered statutory sexual assault for a guard to have sexual contact with an inmate.)

I was an inmate for six years in Connecticut after being convicted of identity fraud, among other charges. From what I saw, the same small group of guards preyed on inmates again and again, yet never faced discipline. They were protected by prison guard unions, one of the strongest forces in…

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Boys Don’t Cry – Is It Time We Start Talking About Our Murdered And Missing Indigenous Men?

Red Power Media, Staff's avatarRED POWER MEDIA

Grace Lafond-Barr’s son, brother, and half brother were all murdered in a 12-year span. Her son, Jaron Tyler Jahnke, was shot in the stomach in Saskatoon in a case of mistaken identity. Indigenous people are seven times more likely than non-aboriginal people to be a victim of homicide.

By Jeremy Warren | The StarPhoenix

Indigenous men are more likely to be murdered than anyone else in Canada – possibly more than 2,000 in a 30-year period.

Grace Lafond-Barr believes healing starts in the home, so she moved her family to Muskeg Lake Cree Nation from Saskatoon two years ago to escape the city where murder took away her two brothers and a son.

She hopes the distance between the city and her grandkids will mean a quieter life without the spectre of violence and vice following them as they grow into young men. Lafond-Barr has seen enough of that: in…

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Ex NFL Player Accused Of Murdering His Gangbanger Cellmate In A California Prison

LawrencePhillips
Ex NFL player Lawrence Phillips accused of murdering his cell mate in a California prison.

A California coroner has ruled that the death of a former NFL player’s prison cellmate was a homicide by strangulation, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.

Lawrence Phillips, 39, was suspected in the death of 37-year-old Damion Soward, who was found unresponsive in their cell on Saturday and died at a local hospital the next day, officials at the Kern Valley State Prison said on Monday.

The Times reported on Wednesday that the Kern County coroner’s office said Soward died of neck compression asphyxia, and that his death was a homicide.

Representatives for the coroner’s office could not be immediately reached.

Soward was serving a sentence of 82 years to life for first-degree murder, prison officials said. The Los Angeles Times reported that Soward was a gang member who was convicted of executing a member of a rival gang.

Phillips played for three NFL teams over four years in the 1990s, ending his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1999.

Officials said Phillips entered the prison in the central California city of Delano in October 2008 and was serving a sentence of 31 years and four months for domestic violence, false imprisonment and vehicle theft.

Local media said at the time the charges stemmed from two instances where he choked his girlfriend, including once where she lost consciousness.

Phillips had also been convicted of driving his car into three teenagers after a pickup football game in an unrelated case, according to local media.

Prison officials said Phillips was placed in a separate unit pending the outcome of their investigation. It said prison officials

there were also investigating a separate case involving another inmate over the death of another cellmate.

Reuters