(190) Human Rights Watch wrote to the young prisoner, who was being held in an adult prison, asking about his situation. In 1998, the mother of an Arkansas prisoner contacted Human Rights Watch to report that her son, a friend of his who was only sixteen, and a third prisoner were all raped in the same cellblock in April of that year. Human Rights Watch has had only a few direct contacts with juvenile prisoners in the course of research for this report, although it has received numerous reports about their treatment from other prisoners, in addition to hearing from some older prisoners about incidents that occurred when they were minors. Placed in an adult prison and repeatedly raped by older inmates, Hulin committed suicide in 1995. Examples such as Rodney Hulin, the seventeen-year-old Texas inmate whose case is described above, illustrate this linkage. (188) The expression "kid," frequently used in prison to describe the victim of a coercive sexual relationship, suggests the connection between youth and victimization. Young or youthful-looking inmates are at particular risk of rape. Proper classification and monitoring of vulnerable prisoners should be one aspect of a rape prevention plan, but only one aspect: other prevention policies are equally necessary to stop sexual abuse in prison. In the wrong circumstances, it should be emphasized, almost any prisoner may be at risk of sexual abuse. While all of the above factors are relevant and important, none should not viewed as controlling. In contrast, African American and Hispanic inmates are much less frequently abused by members of other racial or ethnic groups instead, sexual abuse tends to occur only within these groups. Inter-racial sexual abuse is common only to the extent that it involves white non-Hispanic prisoners being abused by African Americans or Hispanics.
As previously discussed, racial and ethnic distinctions are nowhere more salient than they are in prison: all social interaction is refracted through the prism of these group differences. The elements of race and ethnicity have a complex and significant bearing on the problem of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse. Although gay inmates are much more likely than other inmates to be victimized in prison, they are not likely to be perpetrators of sexual abuse. Perpetrators of rape typically view themselves as heterosexual and, outside of the prison environment, prefer to engage in heterosexual activity. The myth of the "homosexual predator" is groundless. They have typically been convicted of more violent crimes than their victims. They are "street smart"-often gang members. They are frequently larger or stronger than their victims, and are generally more assertive, physically aggressive, and more at home in the prison environment.
First, although some older inmates commit rape, the perpetrators also tend to be young, if not always as young as their victims-generally well under thirty-five years old.
The characteristics of prison rapists are somewhat less clear and predictable, but certain patterns can nonetheless be discerned. Prisoners with any one of these characteristics typically face an increased risk of sexual abuse, while prisoners with several overlapping characteristics are much more likely than other prisoners to be targeted for abuse. Specifically, prisoners fitting any part of the following description are more likely to be targeted: young, small in size, physically weak, white, gay, first offender, possessing "feminine" characteristics such as long hair or a high voice being unassertive, unaggressive, shy, intellectual, not street-smart, or "passive" or having been convicted of a sexual offense against a minor. Rather, a broad range of factors are correlated with increased vulnerability to rape, some related to perceived femininity, some entirely unrelated. But a prisoner does not have to look like a woman to be vulnerable to such abuse. Supreme Court-arguing that as a transsexual she was extremely likely to face sexual assault in prison. (187) Brutally raped within two weeks of arriving, Farmer sued in federal court-later bringing the case all the way up to the U.S. A clear example is that of Dee Farmer, a young preoperative transsexual with "overtly feminine characteristics" who was placed in regular housing in a maximum-security federal prison. Prisons - Predators and VictimsĬertain prisoners are targeted for sexual assault the moment they enter a penal facility: their age, looks, sexual orientation, and other characteristics mark them as candidates for abuse.