by Eric Ture Muhammad
Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (Finalcall.com) -- Human rights groups and activists offered qualified support for the "Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002" that was discussed during recent hearings held on Capitol Hill July 31. The bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Congressmen Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), entitled, "Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, is designed to analyze incidents and subsequent effects of rape in Federal, State, and local institutions and provide information, resources, recommendations and funding to protect individuals from prison rape. Cited as a commendable step, advocates of the bill said more is needed.

According to experts cited by Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM) in a statement, an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 men and boys are victimized every year. Dr. Cindy Struckman-Johnson conducted a study of the Nebraska prison system, the PFM statement said, and found that 22 percent of the male inmates acknowledged being pressured or forced into sex acts.

"Prison rape affects more than just prisoners," PFM founder Chuck Colson said. "It punishes people who never set foot inside a prison. For example, AIDS, which is now five times more prevalent inside prison walls than outside, is a deadly plague that infected inmates will spread once they leave prison. I�ve seen fresh blood on cell floors where an attack had just occurred," he said. Mr. Colson works in more than 600 prisons around the country.

Prison rape is a devastating human rights abuse that is widespread in U.S. prisons, testified Wendy Patten, Human Rights Watch (HRW) U.S. advocacy director, but correction authorities have done too little to prevent it from happening, to protect the victims, and to punish those responsible.

"The Rape Reduction Act of 2002 will encourage much-needed efforts to ensure that a prison sentence is not a sentence to violence. We hope the Act signals renewed congressional concern about the conditions under which more than two million Americans are confined. International human rights standards, constitutional law and basic decency mandate safe and humane prisons," she said.

Ms. Patten offered HRW�s latest publication, "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons," to the lawmakers for review of the horrific accounts and impact the scourge has on the prison population and society as well.

ACLU Attorney Rachel King told the body that current laws make it extremely difficult for prisoners to file lawsuits seeking protection. The most significant barrier is that a prisoner must first exhaust the prison�s administrative complaint process before filing suit in the courts. This can take from three to six months and sometimes requires "sexually assaulted prisoners to confront their attacker face-to-face, resulting in immense fear and trauma for victims." As a result, she said, many prisoners avoid filing complaints and never even report attacks.

An example of such attacks is the case of 33-year-old Roderick Johnson, a Black U.S. Navy veteran who was serving time in a Texas prison for bouncing a $300 check while on parole for a non-violent offense. Mr. Johnson, who is admittedly homosexual, with the help of ACLU, filed a lawsuit against the prison and its officials for allowing the repeated rape and sale of Mr. Johnson as a sex slave for $5 by prison gangs nearly everyday for the last 18 months, according to the complaint.

"Prison officials knew that gangs made Roderick Johnson their sex slave and did nothing to help him," the ACLU said in a statement. "Our lawsuit shows that Texas prison officials think Black men can�t be victims and believe gay men always want sex�so they threw our client to the wolves," the statement said.

Certain prisoners are targeted for sexual assault. The moment they enter a facility, age, looks, sexual references, characteristics and features can mark them as candidates for rape. Specifically, according to HRW, prisoners who are young, small in size, physically weak, White, homosexual, a first offender, males who possess feminine characteristics, unassertive, nonaggres-sive, shy, intellectual, not-street smart, passive or convicted of a sexual offense against a minor are more likely to be targets.

While much has been said concerning prisoner-on-prisoner male sexual assaults, the high incidents of women prisoners and male prisoners assaulted by their jailers have been taboo subjects.

"Since November of 2001, ACLU�s National Prison Project has received hundreds of letters from men and women sexually victimized in United States prisons. They describe horrifying accounts of sexual abuse and rape perpetrated by cellmates, prison gangs, correctional officers and other prison staff," Ms. King said.

A HRW investigation into conditions in an Illinois prison unearthed numerous allegations of rape perpetrated by one correction officer on several women. Prisoners and staff at the prison were well aware of the officer�s reputation, said HRW, but no disciplinary action was taken. "Seeing him everyday showed me what they thought about it," the victim reportedly told HRW.

In Texas, a former state prison guard was indicted in Grimes County on charges of sexually assaulting an inmate after a prosecutor said DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Michael T. Chaney, 50, was indicted in June by a Grimes County grand jury on one count of aggravated sexual assault and improper sexual activity.

Mr. Chaney, who oversaw laundry operations at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice�s Luther Unit in Navasota, resigned in January from his post of seven years, a prison spokesman said. A 22-year-old male inmate reported being forced to perform a sex act on Mr. Chaney on Oct. 31, 2001 and reportedly saved DNA evidence from the incident. Tests linked Chaney to the incident.

"That�s what makes it a good case," prison prosecutor Kelly Weeks told reporters, adding that it is uncommon for prison prosecutors to have such evidence in sexual assault cases.

In July, Los Angeles jurors convicted a sheriff�s custody assistant of sexually assaulting a woman inmate in 1999 at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Jurors deliberated two hours before convicting Meko Goodley on one count of oral copulation, said Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Munisoglu. Mr. Goodley, 28, faces a maximum sentence of three years. His sentencing is set for Aug. 12. He had faced similar charges involving two alleged 1999 attacks against another woman who refused to testify, the prosecutor said.

Activists recommend along with the Rape Reduction Act of 2002 that Congress implement exemptions for victims of rape and sexual assault from the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which make it almost financially impossible for attorneys to take on even the most meritorious prisoner civil rights cases. They are also requesting the elimination of filing fees for victims and the three-strikes provision that prevents victims from seeking relief. If a prisoner has had three lawsuits or appeals dismissed, he or she is forever barred from filing a lawsuit for damages in federal court, unless the full $150 filing fee is paid up front.

"Since most prisoners are impoverished and have little or no opportunity to earn money while incarcerated, this harsh provision may permanently bar them from court, no matter how egregiously their rights have been violated," Ms. King said.