Why is MACC addressing this subject? Simply because those who are incarcerated in the name of the Drug War find themselves in danger of becoming prime meat/victims for prison rape.

There are many misconceptions about this. We've all heard variations on the prison rape joke... "don't bend over in the shower to get the soap" "better wear soap on the roap". Lotsa yuks at inmate expense. late night T.V. hosts to morning radio shock jocks have had a field day with these old jokes. The misconception being that whoever winds up in jail deserves whatever they get, even if that means gang rape resulting in anal lacerations requiring surgery. What a laugh fest this makes, huh? Another ignorant misconception is that only gay or whimpy guys get raped in prison, when in reality, the vast majority are heterosexual and of average "masculinity".

If an inmate is new to the prison, not affiliated with prison gangs ,unpopular with guards or financially unable to pay for protection, they are easily targeted by gang rapists. Guards have many times been the instigators in such attacks, setting up the inmate for rape.

What?! You thought guards were there to uphold the law? Well think again. if it weren't for corrupt guards, none of this brutality could take place. Guards know what every inmate is doing at any time and place. otherwise, how do guards bring inmates up on charges for masturbation within the prison, take them to court within the prison, and add time to the existing days served on sentence? Apparently they only have eyes for masturbation, not gang rape.

Unfortunately, prison rape is more than 'mans inhumanity to man' where prison brings out the worst in a person. This inhumanity is being encouraged by correctional officers who in turn are encouraged by their superiors.

The degradation and physical danger of hours and months of gang rape is a reprehensible reality for many defenseless inmates nationwide. The result can be life altering, not just something to be endured momentarily. AIDS and the increased chances of contracting it via gang rape goes without saying (doesn't it?) and suicide "as escape" often times happens. If the rape victim manages to survive and is released, they still face reliving the psychological trauma the rest of their lives. Suicides have been reported by families who didn't realize the hidden depression their loved ones were suffering from.

We focus here on male rape to point out the misconceptions but we're fully aware that female rape occurs as well. Rape at the hands of guards who coerce inmates into complying with their power. Noncompliance can bring punishment, anywhere from starvation and isolation to being strapped nude to a cot. This punishment is used on males as well. Is it any wonder inmates commit suicide at the first chance?

Prisons are actively keeping investigative journalists out of prisons nationwide and are even lobbying (correction officers have one of the largest associations that lobby state and nationwide) our legislators to pass laws keeping reporters from speaking to inmates.

The question: Who is guarding the guards? The answer: No One.

Donna Rae

PRISON RAPE: OUR WAKEUP CALL

http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/losch.html

Sex Offenders and Inmate Rape Links

http://www.io.com/~ellie/12rape.html

PRISON RAPE/ AIDS

http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/pnw_prison_rape_and_aids.htm

STOP PRISONER RAPE

http://www.spr.org/

WHERE WERE THE GUARDS?

MACC has written about prison rape and the devastating results for far too many. Now we post these pictures as mute evidence of guards looking the other way in Texas prisons. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this instance, two pictures are worth thousands of tears for the young man's mother.

RANDY KEITH PAYNE

JANUARY 21, 1971-AUGUST 12, 1994

My son's problems with the law started shortly after he graduated from high school. By the time he turned 21, he had been convicted of burglarizing two buildings and was in jail again, for breaking into a storage warehouse and stealing liquor. Randy arrived August 4, 1994, at the maximum-security Terrell Unit, a 2,250-bed prison that had been opened just nine months earlier, just outside Livingston, Texas. Young, non-violent offenders are told when they reach these violent prisons...you have to fight or pay convict gangs for protection. The currency often was sex. He wouldn't pay for protection; so, they jumped him. He was beaten for over two hours, by 20 different inmates. And the guards didn't see a thing, they claimed. They didn't see a thing til they spotted Randy's bloody body sprawled in the day room. Randy died a few days later of head injuries, in a Houston hospital. Randy got the death penalty for a non-violent offense. Within weeks after my son died, Anthony Thibodeaux, 24, who was serving an 18- robbery from Travis County, also died at the Terrell Unit--at the hands of other convicts to whom they had refused to pay protection. The fourth convict to die at Terrell was Michael McCoy, 30, a convicted car thief from Dickinson, Texas, who was beaten to death by two guards. The two guards were indicted for the murder of McCoy. They were both found guilty and sentenced to 10 years. After 99 days in prison, a small town judge paroled them both. There are so many unexplained deaths in our prison system and the majority of them are young, 18-30 years old, non-violent offenders. Why are these young men put in the same prison with violent prisoners??? We have asked this question so many times, and to this day... have not received a truthful answer. Since starting C.A.P.S., I have received hundreds of letters from these young offenders and this violence is widespread. It doesn't exist in just a few of our prisons. The only way that this will be changed, is to educate the public and elect state officials who will check into this situation and correct it. Randy and Roy both were criminals and should pay their debt to society, but not with their lives. This inhuman treatment has to stop. The violent prisoners are treated better than the non-violent ones. And prison guards should have to pay for their crimes, when they beat or rape or murder the inmates. And when they turn their heads to the violence, they should at least lose their jobs. Prison guards think they are above the law and can do anything they please and not have to pay any consequences. The only witnesses to these incidents are other inmates and no one wants to believe the testimony of an convicted prisoner.

Visit the site:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/8616/texasprisonabuse.html