“Life in prison is worse for women than for men, argues prison writer-in-residence Emily Kingham. Men often cope with imprisonment by cutting off their emotions; women often become exhibitionists.” From The Social Affairs Unit:
Prison bent. Any man I meet on the outside who hears about my job confesses his fear of being imprisoned, and then, in what is to me a non sequiter [sic], his fear of being raped. (“I’m a pretty boy,” one bearded, heavy-set man confided – to my amusement). But homosexual rape is not really on the agenda when it comes to things to fear in prison. It does happen but it is rare, thank God. Getting through the first few weeks of imprisonment and the struggle for power between men are the real things to fear.
On first entering a prison, men are taken to the Induction Wing where they are introduced by officers and orderlies (trusted prisoners) to the rules and regulations, their rights, responsibilities and educational opportunities. They are then despatched to wings that do not possess an “Enhanced” category in order to be assessed. If they behave themselves they will be moved to an Enhanced wing. Behaving themselves means possessing the self-control not to take drugs, not to have an attitude problem, fitting in with the regime.
Enhanced prisoners occupy their own wing, they have more association, more visits and are generally more trusted to behave themselves.
For the newly arrived prisoner, life on an ordinary Wing is the real test. It is not something as dramatic as rape that is the issue, but standing up to bullies. One prisoner told me that two prisoners came into his cell one morning wearing balaclavas in an attempt to extort. A new boy has to prove himself, stand up to threats of violence, build a reputation for toughness or at least for adroitly avoiding trouble. That is the real issue for me: you can avoid trouble if you really want to, but men in prison don’t always see it that way. When men are banged up together, machismo reigns.
So the issue of homosexuality is not really an issue for men. It is, however, for women. Everyone who works in prisons knows that a lot of women prisoners will go prison bent.
There are 4,393 women in prison this week. Of these 70% have mental health problems; 37% have attempted suicide; 20% have been in care as a child compared to 2% of the general population. At least 50% are victims of childhood abuse or domestic violence. (These figures are from an organisation called Women in Prison.)
I know I couldn’t cope with working in a women’s prison. Men go into army mode – they get through their bird by cutting off their emotions. In more enlightened institutions they are offered therapeutic interventions which challenge their mind-sets but, on the whole, they are not as raw and desperate as their female counterparts. Imprisonment for a woman challenges her very femininity. We do not expect women to break rules. The stigma is all the greater for them when they do. Bear in mind, the most common offences for which women are sent to prison are theft and handling stolen goods. Not exactly armed burglary, rape or assaults. (Sixteen per cent of women are in prison for violent offences (556 women). Thirty-two per cent of men are in prison for violent or sexual offences (18,313 men).
The reason I couldn’t cope is that when women are so emotionally vulnerable they become exhibitionist. They will self-harm in front of you, or they will tell you about slashing themselves or swallowing batteries in lots of gory detail. They are exhibitionist, too in their sexuality. They will kiss and fondle each other in workshops. They will sport lovebites in prominent places. They are sexually aggressive. The need for love and intimacy is there but it becomes distorted into sexual parading. Some women will get themselves arrested for minor offences because they want to be inside on Valentine’s Day or over Christmas. They are so desperate for love, and so incapable of maintaining stability in their lives, they would rather be in prison for these holidays. It’s heartbreaking.
[My emphases]
And you people thought the Martha Stewart Chronicles were a fiction.
Shame on you.
BECAUSE OF THE HOMEMADE SYBIANS!
(h/t Robert Schwartz)
Wait for it…
Good God…
She just violated the Constitution if not the Geneva Conventions there. Psychobabble is a cruel punishment indeed.
Well, getting gang-raped on the quad will likely leave you feeling pretty raw. God, what BS.
So… if you’re a woman, you get to make up your own rules of psychology?
Once again proving that all women are only three cocktails away from hot lesbian sex.
Womens’ prison on Valentine’s Day?
That’s pretty solid thinking right there.
Looking for love in all the wrong places…
I think I saw this movie on Cinemax.
High Five!
Womens prison sure sounds hysterical.
Um…so that was relevant. He really got you there, Jeff.
That “thank God” is sickening. Her joy in that lie reeks off the page.
Real prison-rape statistics are impossible to get (obviously), but the settled-on numbers for prisonâ€â€excluding drunk tanks, weekend hoosegows, and Club Fedsâ€â€is that one in five male prisoners reports being raped.
Could be less, could be more, but those aren’t the bullshit “Did you ever feel uncomfortable during sex?” survey answers that give us the “A woman is raped every two minutes!” propaganda you remember from college. That’s 20% who say they were brutally force-fucked. In the ass. Which is not easy to get happening. But don’t think about that.
And don’t bother talking about it. Almost everyone openly gets off on the idea of itâ€â€see any crime-related Fark, Feministe, or Free Republic threadâ€â€and the only big-name lobbying group, Stop Prisoner Rape, say it’s all BECAUSE OF THE PATRIARCHY, so they’ll be Stopping that instead, and they’ll get back to those raped prisoners once that’s taken care of.
See here and resist the urge to kill:
http://www.spr.org/en/academicarticles/giller.html
can’t you do anything right besides licking Roger L.Simon’s fedora clean so he’ll your lame ass site on Open Sores Media?
Hmmmm… am I sensing a little projection from one of Markos’ or Duncan’s or Greenwald’s twinks?
Darleen,
Some people have very obvious “Daddy” issues.
I’d like a verb, Alex.
Did you hear that?
Controversial and unpopular, just like you in Jr. High, Goldstein!
So there!
OT
I’m the whatever,
You are correct. All the leaks have a common attribute. They are illegal.
TW: “four”; the decider’s IQ.
Geez, I was unaware that Tori Amos had been in prison.
Sorry folks, close the thread – MarkD wins…
And ask yourself: would you trade the stigma for the smegma? Would you?
What a bunch of baloney.
My wife spent four months in prison (due to severe post partum depression and Draconian DWI laws in Connecticut).
I showed her this, and all she said is: “What a moron”. Prison is it’s own culture, and a lot more people than you could imagine are there because they WANT to be. It is their “‘hood”, and, at least in the Northeast, prison populations skyrocket about the middle of November. You can’t sleep in an alley when it’s ten degrees outside.
It’s posts like this that make me agree with your protests about being classified as a *humor* blog in all those award contests. Those guys at Wizbang got it all wrong. You’re not funny at all.
I don’t know whether women’s prisons are worse than men’s prisons. I do know they seem to make better settings for movies.
Jeff,
Big fan, blah, blah, blah, so no offense, but what on earth possessed you to burn bandwidth on this load of horseshit?
TW: I’m FILLED with curiousity.
Wow.
It would almost be worth getting a sex change just to be sent to women’s prison.
Maybe you should try a coloring book version for some of our visitors.
lee —
It gave me a chance to relink the Martha Stewart stuff. And because it was total horseshit.
Silver —
Oh yeah? Well check this out:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Silver
It’s about time. The laundry is piling up and I want a sandwich. And some chips. Now move your ass, bitch!
Wow.
I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of agenda-writing at work (yeah, men’s prison is a piece of cake, sure lady), but this post was funny – not ha-ha funny, more in a let’s-see-what-creepos-think-this-is-funny kind of funny.
Yes yes everything can be funny, even rape, think of Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd, yes. It’s still creepy.
“World To End Tomorrow: Women And Children Especially Affected”
[this comment edited so that it will at least make some kind of sense: Hi, I’m silver! NOTICE ME!]
[This comment edited so that it makes some kind of sense: Blah blah Jeffy, snark, ad hominem blah blah.]
loves you all the same
The size question… some women are willing to compare clits with penises! Cool!
Er, I must have missed something.
I think I see silver’s problem, it is lookin for this place.
Could silver’s real problem be the reference to homemade sybians? Perhaps a safety issue?
B Moe,
Was that a brain fart? Don Rickles? Even in the ninth grade, I thought he was as un-funny as it is possible for a human to be.
Thanks for the gag. Pun intended.
Oh. And silver –
How could you possibly miss the humor of Emily sticking her head so far up her own butt that she’s in danger of choking herself to death?
Or do you think she didn’t pick that article out of her belly button lint and then give it a LIBERAL coating of earwax?
“men go into army mode…” Ah, thank you for the carefully thought out analogy between volunteer soldiers and convicted felons…
maybe women, being more sensitive, go into navy or air force mode…?
ye still have not teh funny
There’s that legendary Goldstein charm. Why you never get laid is a mystery to me.
Of course I never get laid, tb. I’m married with a kid.
What’s your excuse?
That’s terrible. Try cutting back a little on the use of the b-word and she might throw you a little more action. That’s a trick of the trade, my man.
tb’s excuse is the lack of gonads. A liberal mutant. Thank God and the mutation, tb can’t pass its genetic heritage on to the next generation……
Jeff, well, in TB’s defense, general relief checks and food stamps just don’t go as far as they used to in Bush’s Evil America.
tb,
If anyone here thought you might just be thinking of a slam on Jeff’s wife … well, your ass would be toast.
And then there’s that whole “trying to score on the old couch in Mom’s basement” complication…
Hey! The couch ain’t that old!
The throw is practically new!