Gay Prisons versus Straight Prisons

[queerbychoice]

Since when do American prisons (some? all? I have no idea how many) routinely maintain segregated prison cells for gay convicts and straight convicts? I've never heard of such a thing, yet I came across this sentence stating it plainly at the end of an Associated Press article: "County jails segregate gay inmates from other inmates, keeping them in separate dormitories." (From the article "ACLU Claims Gay Inmates Abused in Los Angeles Jail.")

This raises some awfully disturbing questions in my mind. How do they determine who's "gay" and who's "straight"? Do they adhere strictly to a policy of taking everybody's word for whatever their preference is? What if, as we've all heard is known to happen, one prisoner commits rape or attempted rape of another prisoner, in the "straight" dormitory? My suspicion is that such a prisoner would be relabeled "gay" and moved into the "gay" dormitory. Then what happens? The gay prisoners are put at higher risk of being raped, and the prison authorities probably find it all the easier not to bother making any effort to prevent rape, based upon the all-too-common heterosexual belief that "since they're all gay, they're not really going to mind." This also puts the gay prisoners at higher risk of HIV infection as well, turning temporary prison terms into death sentences.

How did this policy get instituted in the first place? Did the prisons claim it was being done for the gay prisoners' own protection? Why was there no public discussion of it that could have made me aware of it before now? Why is there still no apparent public criticism of it? The article is only about the ACLU complaining about specific abuses, and says nothing to indicate that anybody but me suspects that segregated prison dormitories may be a contributing factor in the abuse. Do any of you know how common this segregation is, or when it first began to be instituted?

Comments

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Jails do tons of rather questionable things in the name of "increasing safety" or "decreasing behavioral problems." If a jail decides that some sort of segregation makes the prison more manageable, it has pretty much free rein (weren't California prisons just sued last year for deliberate racial segregation? What decade is it supposed to be?).

The only possible good reason I can think of for segregating prisoners according to sexual behavior is if they put such prisoners in individual cells, either because they didn't want to allow prisoners to have consensual sex with other prisoners (it's sort of fair, since heterosexual prisoners don't get to interact with members of the opposite sex, although at least inmates who are attracted to the opposite gender sometimes get the option of marrying their partners and then getting state-sanctioned conjugal visits), or in order to keep rapist prisoners from assaulting other people. In the latter case, though, I'd be pretty offended if the same-sex rapist dormitories got labeled as the "gay dormitories".

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

"In the latter case, though, I'd be pretty offended if the same-sex rapist dormitories got labeled as the 'gay dormitories'."

Yeah, that would definitely be offensive. But even that would be less horrifying than what I'm most afraid of, which is that the rapist prisoners and the most frequently raped prisoners both get labeled "gay" and stuck in a segregated dormitory together.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

This would still be mainly disturbing if they didn't take measures to keep the prisoners separated cells so they couldn't rape or have consensual sex with each other. Even prisoners who are considered dangerous to others, are still legally entitled not to be placed in danger by being housed with other dangerous prisoners.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

"Even prisoners who are considered dangerous to others, are still legally entitled not to be placed in danger by being housed with other dangerous prisoners."

In theory, sure, but it hasn't been my impression that any significant efforts at all are made to put the theory into practice, or in particular, to prevent rape in any remotely effective manner. My impression has been that it's pretty nearly impossible for most male prisoners, or at least most male prisoners who aren't extremely large and muscular, to spend a year or more in prison without getting raped. Not that I'm at all sure how valid an impression this is; it's just the one I have at the moment.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

It's true, the legal battles that I've seen get fought over this are concerning prisoners who murder or otherwise injure others. But courts have consistently upheld that people in US prisons have rights not to be put in danger, abused, or subjected to invasive acts by the guards (such as being forced to take medication for disorders that aren't making them a hazard to other prisoners). So my guess is that those same courts would agree that prisons have a duty to take reasonable measures to prevent serious violence in jails, and that prisoners who showed themselves to be seriously dangerous to others are technically required to be kept away from the other prisoners.

My impression about prison rape is that the conditions vary by the security level of prison and by the prison system itself. And that the powers that be (such as courts) tend to frown on prison rape, and it's the guards themselves who allow it to continue through being incompetent, sadistic, or improperly trained.

[arlan-bishop.livejournal.com]

Good points. As far as I have read and based on my past experiences working in legal intake (where I read and responded to written letters of assistance from prisoners about all manners of problems, including those seeking protection assaults and other types of violence), there is a great deal of segregation that goes on in the jails and prisons. But, I have never heard of gay cell blocks and straight cell blocks. The segregation is reportedly done for a multitude of reasons, including protecting specific inmates and as an attempt to maintain order (one of the main reasons used by prison officials recently to explain racial segregation of inmates, many prison gangs seem to be split along racial and ethnic lines).

The situations I have come across run more along the lines of what quixotic said in that more "vulnerable" prisoners (younger, physically smaller, openly gay, etc.) are often separated out of general population and either put into a "punk" block or housed singly. Unfortunately, this doesn't alway happen when it probably should which seems to be what happened in Roderick Johnson's situation.

[normanee.livejournal.com]

I took a corrections class last semester and the professor had first hand expierence with this subject. Most rape occurs when the prison is not well run. A majority of the rapers are situtionaly homosexual, meaning outside of prison they are striaght.

I think you need to seperate people who might harm each other, and alot of times gay's and straights are seperated, if its for their safety, like a child molestor, or a homosexual, they are usually put in a solitary setting so they have no fear of harm.

note: MOST PRISONS SUCK!

[erdbeermund.livejournal.com]

I could be mistaken, but I thought it was an optional thing that was set up to protect gay people from the general population.

I know that Ryker's in NY has a separate cell block for gay prisoners and at least on Law & Order and such that is how it is portrayed.

[quixotic.livejournal.com]

hi there. i'm not on your friends list, so i hope you don't mind me commenting.

i have heard of a practice in a lot of jails of having a so-called "punk tank." they put more feminine male-bodied inmates here (gay, transgendered, or otherwise feminine enough that they feel the person in question would be at risk). the supposed goal is to protect these prisoners from being assaulted and to keep order in the prisons, though i'm not sure how successful this is.

-amanda

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Hi, quixotic!

..reading friendsfriends? Or mere coincidence?

[quixotic.livejournal.com]

friendsfriends, indeed!

-a

[chisparoja.livejournal.com]

that´s interesting, i´d like to know more about that.

[quixotic.livejournal.com]

i haven't been able to find much information -- i've heard it mentioned a few times in passing in articles i was reading or documentaries i was watching, but i haven't been able to find anything in depth about it.

-a