Daisy on Prison Rape and Human Rights

Daisy at Our Decent Into Madness writes:

In Iran, a woman was attacked by her scorned suitor turned stalker: he threw sulfuric acid on her face, blinding and permanently disfiguring her. He’s been sentenced to a punishment of having five drops of acid put in each of his eyes. […] This is cruel and unusual punishment, a human rights violation. They’re very right. This man has been sentenced to torture.

What struck me, though: cruel and unusual punishment relative to what? It’s very easy to sit here in the United States and say it’s barbaric to put acid into this attacker’s eyes. But what would happen to him here? He’d be thrown into a prison, where, chances are, he would be raped for years with absolutely no consequence.

Our courts don’t sentence convicts to torture. (Not that this stops our government from torturing!) No, we just let them be tortured by other convicts instead.

This entry posted in Prisoner rape, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues. Bookmark the permalink. 

8 Responses to Daisy on Prison Rape and Human Rights

  1. What! This punishment is so unusual. They are going to get the guy blind. I am not excusing what he has done of course he should be sentenced and perhaps do hard labour and all but acid in his eyes? That is cruel

  2. 2
    Angiportus says:

    Indeed.
    What gets me is how anyone expects this sort of thing to teach them to be nicer people when it is over. It’s a tangly one that I have no answer for. I can see reparations of some kind, but for deeds that can’t be repaired (how can you un-molest someone?) that’s a problem. Also, some are just too dangerous to be running loose.
    I have never been able to make up my mind about the death penalty, and this sort of thing is why. I once saw this program about that guy in the Southwest who puts everyone in tents in the desert, and it said he had a recidivism rate of 30% or something–forgot exact number, it’s been years–and I thought that was awful high, but the tv’s owner said it wasn’t.
    People whose minds are overrun by some batshit idea that they need to hit or rob or throw acid or whatever, someone who has not harmed them, are really nuts and it’s going to take a lot to straighten them out. And if they can’t be fixed, then we either have to keep them for the rest of their lives, when we can’t even seem to keep innocents fed and warm, or else turn them loose to hurt more people. And think that putting up a sign on the city limits, and sending out flyers, is enough.
    The only alternative I can see right now is the one so many think is unjust. Put an end to their story. But who’s going to make sure that this doesn’t spread to the excesses of past centuries, when (I read) children were hanged for stealing bread, and all sorts of adults were sacrificed just to keep the guillotines from getting rusty. Not to mention the feeling I still have that it’s better to let 9 guilty go free than punish 1 innocent.
    I didn’t say I’d have an answer when I was done, and I still don’t.

  3. 3
    Doug S. says:

    I think this is simply the old “eye for an eye” version of retributive justice; some of the oldest legal codes (such as the Code of Hammurabi) were based on the principle that the proper punishment for doing someone harm is for an equivalent harm to be inflicted on the perpetrator.

    However, it’s a bit rare to see the principle applied quite so literally these days…

  4. 4
    Alison Hymes says:

    Prisoners are also raped by guards, not just by fellow prisoners. Especially women prisoners. And women prisoners ARE raped in prison and some get pregnant and will have the baby taken away from them if their term is not up. Talk about cruel and unusual.

  5. 5
    Ruth says:

    Donate here: http://www.justdetention.org/

    JDI works to protect the basic human rights of all detainees, in the U.S. and internationally. When the government takes away someone’s freedom, it has a responsibility to protect that person’s safety. All inmates have the right be treated with dignity. No matter what crime someone has committed, sexual violence must never be part of the penalty.

    The reason JDI does this work is simple: sexual abuse in detention is a perversion of justice and an affront to our society’s most essential values. It shatters the lives of thousands of people every year, and it hurts the rest of society as well, by spreading violence and disease both within and far beyond the prison walls.

    Now the good news: sexual abuse in detention is preventable. It is possible to put an end to this type of violence. JDI is the only organization in the U.S., and perhaps in the world, that focuses exclusively on ending rape behind bars.

  6. 6
    Jesca says:

    The Mobilization for Justice and Peace in Congo (MJPC) reiterated its call for the UN in Congo (MONUC) to immediately arrest the notorious war criminal Nkunda in order to at least give some meaning to their own recent findings which revealed that at least 150 people were killed innocently in early November by Nkunda’s troops in the village of Kiwanja. Incontestably, the UN report offers some light showing that Nkunda continues to commit war crimes. According to the Director of Community Affairs of the MJPC, Makuba SEKOMBO, the MJPC invites community organizations, religious organizations, trade unions, and other members of the community to join in calling for MONUC to carry out its international obligations by immediately arresting the war criminal who seems to be finding pleasure in continuing to inflict unacceptable and intolerable suffering to the most vulnerable groups of the civil society in eastern DR Congo.

    MJPC believes that the failure of MONUC to take measures to arrest this war criminal has served to encourage him to commit more war crimes against civilians. According to Mr. SEKOMBO, the tragic humanitarian crisis in North Kivu for example could have been avoided if the United Nations had taken seriously the warnings from Human Rights Watch since 2006 that as long as Nkunda is at large, the civilian population remains in great danger. Instead of taking these warnings seriously, the MONUC decided to make this notorious war criminal a partner ignoring even that in 2005, the Government of Congo issued an international arrest warrant against him for his involvement in many war crimes and other serious violations of human rights. “Without mentioning that the most prestigious organizations in the world such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others begun to document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by troops under the direct command of NKUNDA since 2002, why it remains unpunished? ” Mr. SEKOMBO asked him self.

    “It is both ironic and tragic; MONUC which is in Congo to help promote peace, is now engaged in promoting a culture of rewarding war criminals by helping them to be appointed to high level government posts instead of ensuring that these war criminals are duly punished for war crimes they commit, “said Mr. SEKOMBO. He also denounced the failure of MONUC to take appropriate measures to arrest NKUNDA despite new evidence that his troops continue to commit heinous war crimes against innocent civilians, including repeated massacres of civilians, forced recruitment of children as fighters and then use them to attack civilian comunities and sexual violence against women and children. “We also believe that it is not too late for the United Nations to help reverse the current humanitarian crisis in east Congo, but peace and justice must go hand in hand” said Mr. SEKOMBO

    MJPC recently launched a petition to collect signatures of concerned citizens around the world to demand the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) to immediately arrest the notorious war criminal Nkunda. Concerned citizens around the world are signing the petition, including those of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Kenya, Sweden, Rwanda, France, Germany, Denmark, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Malawi, Burundi, Senegal, Nigeria, Spain, Japan, United Kingdom Venezuela, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda. The online petition can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html.

    About the MJPC.
    The sole purpose of MJPC is to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular in the east Congo where thousands of innocent civilians, including children and women continue to be victims of massive human rights violations while the armed groups responsible for these crimes remain unpunished. Visit the Online Museum of Victims of War in Congo in Congo at http://www.yoursilenceoncongo.org to see the unacceptable barbarity that you could help stop by signing the petition. For more information on MJPC and their activities, visit the wbsite http://www.mjpcongo.org. or call 916 753 5717. The online petition can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html.

  7. 7
    RonF says:

    Angiportus, I did a search on “revidicism rate” on Google and this is the first link that came up: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm
    It compares revidisism rates for 1983 and 1994. They were all around 60% +/- a few points. 30% looks like a pretty good number.

  8. 8
    RonF says:

    Jesca, it’s just astonishing that the U.N. in particular and the international community in general seems to be completely ignoring what’s going on in the Congo, especially when you consider that far more human lives are being lost there than in other hot spots that get far more publicity. Why do you think that’s so? Racism?