How can we get the public to take prison rape seriously? This seems to be the greatest challenge facing the movement to eliminate prison rape. Just how hard this task will be was driven home to me by two events in recent days. The first was the acquittal by a jury of a predator who had raped his cellmates, and the other was the advertising campaign for the movie Let's Go to Prison.
Tremayne Francis, charged with prison rape, was described by the Seattle Times as “a cellmate's worst nightmare.” His aggressive behavior was chronicled in the article: “Convicted in 1998 of raping two young men while working as a martial-arts instructor in Pierce County, Francis was sent to prison for nine years. But even behind the razor wire, Francis used extortion and violence to force fellow inmates to have sex with him and raped two men new to prison, according to prison records.” According to the article, DOC records indicate sexual aggression against other inmates dating back to 2000 in multiple correctional facilities.
Using money from the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), Washington State DOC assigned two investigators to permanent duty investigating sex crimes and they compiled the case against Francis. The Snohomish County Prosecutor, Janice Ellis, agreed to file charges, and her deputy presented the case to a jury over a week long trial. Sadly, the jury acquitted Francis. According to the Seattle Times report of the verdict, the “jurors were forbidden from hearing about Francis' past convictions and the DOC findings in the two alleged prison rapes.”
It is unclear what the jury’s reasoning was, but in other cases several rationales have come into play in acquittals: “what do you expect – it’s prison”; “it was probably consensual”; “they broke the law, they deserve it”; and, “who should we believe, they are both criminals”. The bottom line is that it is very hard to get a jury to convict in a prison rape case. As a result, prosecutors are reluctant to devote the substantial resources of a criminal trial when conviction is so problematic.
Given the uphill nature of prosecuting prison rape cases, special praise should be given to Snohomish County Prosecutor Ms. Ellis for filing charges, and for DOC Secretary Harold Clarke for assigning the investigators to pursue the case. They both have sent a clear message that rape is a crime that will not be tolerated, even if it takes place behind prison walls. I am sure that it would encourage them if you dropped them a note of thanks for prosecuting this case.
Secretary Harold Clarke
Post Office Box 41100, Mail Stop 41100
Olympia, Washington 98504-1100
doccorrespondence@doc1.wa.gov
The Honorable Janice Ellis
3000 Rockefeller, M/S 504
Everett, WA 98201
prosecuting.attorney@co.snohomish.wa.us
The other source of my frustration was the advertising campaign for the movie, Let's Go to Prison, which features variations on the theme of “don’t pick up the bar of soap.” I don’t know of any class of people other than inmates whose suffering could be the basis of a comedy promotion campaign. Can you imagine similar ads featuring the disabled, or women rape victims, or concentration camp survivors?
When 7-Up ran a similarly thoughtless campaign a few years ago, they quickly withdrew it, after people pointed out how insensitive it was. I hope you will join many of us in asking Universal Pictures to choose another theme to promote their movie.
The underlying problem is that inmates have been dehumanized in the minds of the public. They are “them”, instead of our sons, sisters, fathers, and brothers. The leers about dropping the soap in prison on late night TV would fade if the listeners saw the face of a loved one as a victim of the assault rather than one of those other people. The battle to pass the Prison Rape Elimination Act hinged largely on reminding legislators that inmates are human beings, and have worth and dignity as children of God. Now, we have to remind the public of that as well.
In His service,
Pat Nolan
President, Justice Fellowship
Helpful Links:
Justice Fellowship’s Prison Rape Resource Page
National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
Stop Prisoner Rape
Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons
BJS Report “Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2005” (PDF) |
