Shame

I once had an argument with one of my friends (not a U.S. citizen) about the relative difference between Iraqi prisons and American prisons. Naturally, I was of the opinion that our prisons, for all their faults, were still far from the level of unconscionable action of Iraq, and cited as an example the use of anal rape of prisoners by Saddam. To which he replied, "well, anal rape happens all the time in U.S. prisons."

I objected - that there wasn't evidence that it was done to such level, and at any rate, it wasn't an instrument of prison policy. In one of those sobering moments that happens to me from time to time, he simply stated (to paraphrase), "Geoff, get real. You Americans JOKE about prison rape. You all know it happens, and make no bones about it. Of course it's American policy. Americans endorse, or jokingly tolerate, prison rape so that people will try to avoid prison. These are PRISONS - these people use the bathroom on a schedule, and you seriously believe they can't prevent systematic prison rape?"

My skin's crawled every time I've heard a "Bubba" joke since. It was a humbling point.

Which brings up back to today's NY Times article:

Under the protocols of the prison gangs at Allred, gay prisoners must take women's names. Then they are assigned to one of the gangs.

"The Crips already had a homosexual that was with them," Mr. Johnson explained. "The Gangster Disciples, from what I understand, hadn't had a homosexual under them in a while. So that's why I was automatically, like, given to them."

According to court papers and his own detailed account, the Gangster Disciples and then other gangs treated Mr. Johnson as a sex slave. They bought and sold him, and they rented him out. Some sex acts cost $5, others $10.

Last month, a federal appeals court allowed a civil rights lawsuit that Mr. Johnson has filed against prison officials to go to trial. The ruling, the first to acknowledge the equal protection rights of homosexuals abused in prison, said the evidence in the case was "horrific."
...
Mr. Johnson's suit says he begged prison officials to move him to a unit called safekeeping, where white and Hispanic homosexuals, former gang members and convicted police officers lived. He asked seven times, in writing.

The officials did nothing, saying Mr. Johnson's claims could not be corroborated. At prison hearings, Mr. Johnson said, officials would take pleasure in his plight. They suggested that he was enjoying the rapes, he said.

Mr. Johnson said they told him he had two choices. One was to fight. The other was to engage in sex. The officials deny they mishandled the complaints and the ugly comments attributed to them.

Carl Reynolds, the general counsel of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which runs the Texas prisons, said Mr. Johnson's complaints were properly handled.

"These allegations were investigated by the internal affairs branch of our agency," he said. "There seems to have been a lot of doubt about his motives and his ability to present evidence."

You know, I really do believe this is an ongoing human rights catastrophe which puts a really dark stain on this nation's soul...