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This video is a very sensitive issue and deals with the issue of prison rape and suicide. I know that this video may be hard to watch, but this is a reality of prison and I believe that all students in a correction’s course must understand these issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3j3Wk711zY&feature=youtu.be
After watching the video please answer the following questions:
1. Do you agree with how the prison handled Rodney’s situation?
2. What do you believe the prison officials and correctional officers should do in a situation when they discover a sexual assault?
3. What do you believe should happen to the inmates who brutalized Rodney?
4. Please discuss the Prison Rape Elimination Act and if you think it is helpful for individuals like Rodney.Remember your post must be at least 300 words
| Subject | Law and governance | Pages | 4 | Style | APA |
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Answer
The Dark Side of Prison
Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people are sent to prison for a myriad of offences. Currently, the US correctional system holds more than 2.3 million people (Drucker, 2012). At a time when a lot of troubled young people are being sent to the prison system because the society does not want to take the pain of handling them, it is important to address the abject conditions that the young people are thrown to. In particular, it is important to make significant strides towards conclusively dealing with the physical and psychological poison of rape which dwells in the prison corridors and in most instances leads to suicide.
Rodney was a young person who landed in prison because of a misdemeanor. He was later exposed to physical and psychological abuse; the main medium herein being rape. At various times the prison medical personnel indeed found evidence of tears on his anus but they did not do anything about it. Essentially, there was a constructive cover-up (Found Object Channel, 2010). I completely disagree with the way the prison handled Rodney’s situation.
When the prison officials and correctional officers discover that there has been a sexual assault, the first thing that they should do is isolate the victim from the rest of the inmates. It is ironical to discover a sexual assault yet send the victim to the same environment wherein he was sexually assaulted. After the isolation; the victim should go through counseling sessions. He should not be left to deal with the trauma on his own. Further, the inmates who brutalized Rodney should be tried a new for the offence and the punishment in this regard ought to be added to the sentences they are currently serving.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act has been an effective medium of ensuring that action is taken by various stakeholders to ensure that the rate of prison rape is significantly reduced. It, for instance, mandates the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to conduct periodical statistics and table a report on the rate of rape in prisons, as well as, the effects thereto (Prison Rape Elimination Act, 2003). It also provides for the creation of a commission that deals with the establishment of draft standards towards the elimination of rape in prisons (Prison Rape Elimination Act, 2003). I believe that at this very point in time, the Act is not helpful for individuals like Rodney since it is much generalized in nature and does not, for instance, provide for sanctions with respect to the instances when prison officials fail to report the rape incidents. Further, the BJS is only mandated to conduct statistics with respect to only 10% of the entire American prison population. Many individuals including Rodney would not benefit from this Act.
Whereas many young people are being sent to prison for a myriad of offences, measures have not been put in place to deal with rape and subsequent suicide in the prison systems. Rodney’s situation was handled in a very unprofessional way. The Prison Rape Elimination Act does not do much to help individuals like Rodney.
References
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Drucker, E. (2012). Drug law, mass incarceration, and public health. Or. L. Rev., 91, 1097. London, Gabriel. [Found Object Channel]. (2010, November 5). No Escape: Prison Rape in America - The Rodney Hulin Story. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3j3Wk711zY&feature=youtu.bePrison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.
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