Jails, humiliation and homosexuality

[Joseph]

Listen... I barely visit this site at all lately cause it gets boring to me, but whatever, there is something on my mind and I just want to know.

I won't bother to write a big "I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm asking" cause it never works and I always end up being called the next Adolf Hitler, so let's just roll with it.

I'm from Poland, a very conservative, boring stupid, uptight land ... I hate it. Perhaps that's the reason for this cultural difference, but when we talk of jails we speak of tiny rooms with 2-4 people where they spend time ... SURE it's obvious the jail is a tough place and that there's big chances of getting the hell beaten out of you, but we never talk about it as if it was a death sentence. Sure you could land with some "bad boys" that'd torment you for years to come, but that's random, kinda like on a school trip being overnight somewhere and ending up in the same room as a bully...

But the american culture seems to have something different. If you go to jail... you will die! People there are ALL killers and your dead! But what's even more surprising to me is that ... All people there are RAPISTS... It just amazes me entirely. I guess I just thought of it lately after watching "25th hour" a great movie, but anyways.

I don't get it... I was already screamed at here for considering the USA to be a fully tolerant utopia, hence it surprises me to hear about guys who just rape weaker guys at jail.

I heard of "It's natural to be curious at that age" excuses, but is this another example of the weird unspoken "If I'm the one getting blown or the one fucking, it's ok" excuse? Kinda like teabagging... ?

I don't know, just this whole thing seems awkward to me, sorry for the weird writing style, I hope to get some responses on this.

 

[coachreffn]

Hey Joseph, welcome back. It is true that in prison that some men are raped. However, from my limited knowledge, it is sometimes about sex but often about a power stance among inmates. I am sure that there will be others in the forum who can address this far more intelligently than I. However, it is not true that ALL prisoners are rapists and that a man is bound to either rape or be raped in prison but you do hear about it in the press from time to time. Welcome back, again. Hope some of the guys in here can answer this question more fully.

 

[B_thickjohnny]

Hello from Prague! You should come visit the Czech Republic if you don't like uptight Poland. It's the most atheist country in the world which means no moral base line for most people. They do what they want and don't feel guilty about it (Catholic and Jewish guilt can be tough!). I came here 14 years ago from New Orleans which has its own "open culture" but it was still surprising to me....but I think I've adjusted well!

 

[AM_092]

Yeah I think that is the stereotypical thought in America (I'm not American, but when the topic comes up here and there and even in popular culture or in the news, that's just the way it's portrayed). In Australia, I don't think the stereotype is as negative, though there's bound to be some sort of harassment/assault in prisons, everywhere.

 

[lopo2000]

I always try to keep in mind that there's no such thing as generalizations. Not all prisoners fuck other prisoners, in all countries. Sexual activites among prisoners also happen in here, but as usual, it happens to a certain degree of inmate population. And I believe with coacreff, power is something that the prisoners keep looking out for. It's a threatening environment and if you don't have anything to show your power to other inmates, you can be dead, practically or literally. One of the ways for them to balance out the threat and their sense of stability is through sexual needs.

 

[cyclistlarge]

I think this is more of a question of human nature than it is nationality. getting an asswhooping is statistically more likely than being raped. There are far more tolerant countries in Europe.

 

[Joseph]

lopo2000 & coachreffn - I do know it's not something like 100% sure to happen and certainly not all prisoners are like that. And yeah likely power stance.

thickjohnny - Czech is atheistic? Ehh thasnks but no thanks, I'll go to Germany

cyclistlarge - Ok I admit it's more about human nature , since a similar attitude can be even in elementary schools, but I do think it'd be VERY awkward for such things to happen in my country. Here even CURIOUSITY AT THE YOUNG AGE is looked at with some mean looks....

 

[cyclistlarge]

I live in whats called the "bible belt" in america. trust me its conservative. I know plenty of people who think gay people go to hell, obama is a terrorist, and religion and guns will fix everything. conservative here is generally a terrible brew of stupid (see tea party). rapists associate power over other people as sexual (generally). The fact that they are in jail is secondary. rape in jail once again is actually very uncommon.

 

[TexasTail4U2Use]

Was once an employee of the Texas Prison System and rape between inmates is VERY rare. Ass whoopings, now that is another story.

 

[wildwestend]

People need to stop beleiving everything they see in movies. Our society is brainwashing us on a daily basis, whether it be the news, the music videos, or porno for example (everyone thinks that the norm is a 9inch cock).......... Jail is a place where people are trying to do their time and go home. Almost most of the jail population doesnt want problems. ofcourse there are going to be plenty of fights, stabbings, assualts from CO's, and your rights violated on a daily basis (stripping naked etc... etc...). What peopel ened to understand is all this idea about jail and rape and murders in jail is all movies. Yes, people do die in jail, yes people do get raped, but this is very minor. It varies from country to country, I know in Canada everyone is trying to do their time and go home. Some peopel turn gay in jail because of the long time they are doing, so they will pick on younger inmates, which may happen but isnt common. In AMERICA, the system is totally differant and there are way more people doing LIFE WITH NO PAROLE, so rape is much higher, murders are much higher (a guy whos doing lief is never going to fuck again most likely, and if he kills someone else hes got nothing to lose)....It all vaires, but get this idea of jail out of your head where its a hell hole and peopel are dying, everyone gets raped etc.. etc.. Detention Centres is harder time then Penetentriary..... Its just a bunch of peopel (some innocent, some guilty) who are passing time by working out, watching TV, playing games, and doing there time....LOTS OF MASTURBATION, couple times a day for couple years can really take a toll on your penis!!!!!

 

[RodneySpearring]

Rape in prison is highly derived from pop culture, it really doesnt happen at all...

 

[101754]

Spr.org

 

[Uslidenme]

@joseph I think your opinion about America is derived from movies and media. To say that male rapes never occur is not true. But its not easy either. There are camera's everywhere and you have to sign in and out of the different sections. As someone pointed out rapes are less often about sex then they are about power.
I do think that its very weird though to see young black men and boys in America adopt prison culture as an everyday thing.
Lots of guys who think they are really tough go around wearing their pants really low and having their underwear showing. In some prisons you can't have belts because prisoners might try to hang themselves. So with no belts your pants tend to hang low.
But again that is a media/cultural thing that has more to do with music and hip/hop then it does actual real life. Sometimes bad things happen--even in America but a lot of the images you describe are hyped from television or movies and while it may happen occasionally you have made a dramatized event the norm. Of course the best thing is not to have to go to jail period so stay on the up and up.
I've never been to jail except for an overdue out of state parking ticket and going to do prison ministry with my church choir.

 

[B_hijack]

This is highly generalized. Firstly, there are many types of prisons: juvenile, military, pre-release, minimum, medium and high security, close security, low security and others.

I assume that you are referring to penitentiaries, which are high-security prisons in the US. These tend to be either barracks or supermax.

Barracks prisons are essentially prisons where the prisoners are not kept in individual rooms under lockdown. They have many beds in a large room and may or may not have other rooms to hang out in. Lately, prisoners in barracks prisons are kept only in the sleeping area. These have wide areas for guards to safely walk around the clusters of bunk beds. All of this is to keep costs down, but this comes at a price. Barracks prisons allow for lots of communication between prisoners. They congregate into gangs and engage in social acts that establish hierarchy in the group. This can include physical assault--usually only when these prisoners are away from the barracks, such as when doing programming, duties, showering, or in the bathrooms. They may be face bodily harm, rape, or death.

Supermax prisons use a continual lockdown system. Prisoners are kept alone in rooms. To keep them sane, they usually have a TV with cable. They are let out usually only an hour a day for sunshine, exercise and maybe to shower (they may have to use the sink in their room). Food is served to them through a slot. One wall is almost all glass, allowing guards to randomly walk by and observe the prisoner. These lockdown prisons are very expensive, often costing over $100,000 per prisoner per year. The advantage is that rape is that gangs, rapes, even assaults are almost non-existent.

The question that American taxpayers need to ask themselves is: "Do the cheap costs of barracks prisons morally permit the violence that occurs in these prisons?" Many studies have shown that barracks prisons simply perpetuate the cycle of crime. They may even promote infectious disease, recidivism, gang membership, drug use, and anti-authoritarian attitudes. Lockdown prisons are expensive, but if they reduce the high cost of recidivism, then isn't that worth it? If even a fraction of the (almost) 1 million police in the US, then supermaxes could pay for themselves.

1 out of every five prisoners in the world are in the US. Most of those are in Texas.

At the risk of getting more off topic:

“Texas is showing the rest of the country that if you look at research you can find ways to cut costs and crime at the same time,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center’s public safety performance project, a nonprofit think tank. “Just this week the work that Texas has done was featured prominently at the national conference on state legislatures in San Diego. States are learning that they just can’t build their way out of crime.”

A few years ago, state lawmakers decided against spending half a billion dollars to house 17,000 new prisoners and in favor of spending less than half that amount to reduce the prison population through treatment programs. This move resulted in 10,000 beds being set aside for substance abuse and mental programs for probationers, parolees and prisoners. (source)

This article shows that that investing in prevention can greatly lower the costs of enforcement.

 

[B_ILIW]

I think prisons being rough exists everywhere, in some sense.

And frankly IMO, who cares? lol.. It's bound to happen anyhow.