phill4paul
02-26-2014, 08:55 AM
One night in June of 2008, James Sutton—not a guard but a nurse at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, in Wetumpka, Alabama—allegedly ordered an inmate, Felicia Dixon, to go into the showers (nobody really showers at night) and asked her to sit down on a bench. According to court documents, he then stood in front of her, unzipped his pants in front of her face, and demanded that she perform oral sex on him. She hesitated. He said, “You are wasting time. Just do it a [little] bit.” Dixon did nothing, and Sutton moved closer to her mouth. He goaded her, “Shit! You owe me. Now come on; open your mouth, just a little bit.” Sutton claimed that he’d let her use a telephone and brought her food from outside, so naturally Dixon should pay it back in trade. She put his penis in her mouth for the duration of about a minute, presumably all she could stand.
But the situation presented in the report is already terrifying. For instance, 36 percent of Tutwiler staff were identified by inmates as “having had sex with prisoners”—whether consensual or not, it’s illegal under state law. One officer routinely licks his lips at inmates and offers to exchange sexual favors for fresh uniforms and underwear. Officers march into the showers unannounced (a direct violation of PREA statutes) while women are bathing to perform a head count—they did this with impunity, even in the three days while the DOJ was on site. Often they linger in the showers, deliberately miscount, or have the women all turn to face them so that they are standing in full-frontal view of the officer. One officer impregnated an inmate in May of 2010. Staff speak abusively to the women, calling them “stupid bitches,” “hating-ass bitches,” “too cute to be in prison,” and “pieces of shit.” Some of the women in drug treatment are affectionately called “dope whores” by one officer. This same guy also told another inmate to “shut her cum catcher” when she tried to address him. Another officer flamboyantly made fun of an inmate who had razor burn on her thigh and encouraged other staff and prisoners to mock her too.
The DOJ unearthed that officers use sex to play favorites—they smuggle drugs, makeup, coffee, sugar, perfume, alcohol, and tampons for women who put out. It’s not just guards, either. One instructor let women use his prison-approved laptop to send emails or to work on court and tax documents and résumés in exchange for a cellphone photo shoot of the prisoners in their underwear. Officers encourage sexual relationships between the women; they arrange for special contests in which prisoners win the opportunity to spend mealtime with their girlfriends. This may sound sweet but for the fact that it, like playing favorites, leads to a competitively sexualized environment, culminating in bizarre events like at least two improvised “strip shows,” one on New Year’s Eve, when an officer happily volunteered his flashlight as a strobe.
http://www.vice.com/read/tutwiler-womens-prison-is-a-hot-house-of-sexual-violence
But the situation presented in the report is already terrifying. For instance, 36 percent of Tutwiler staff were identified by inmates as “having had sex with prisoners”—whether consensual or not, it’s illegal under state law. One officer routinely licks his lips at inmates and offers to exchange sexual favors for fresh uniforms and underwear. Officers march into the showers unannounced (a direct violation of PREA statutes) while women are bathing to perform a head count—they did this with impunity, even in the three days while the DOJ was on site. Often they linger in the showers, deliberately miscount, or have the women all turn to face them so that they are standing in full-frontal view of the officer. One officer impregnated an inmate in May of 2010. Staff speak abusively to the women, calling them “stupid bitches,” “hating-ass bitches,” “too cute to be in prison,” and “pieces of shit.” Some of the women in drug treatment are affectionately called “dope whores” by one officer. This same guy also told another inmate to “shut her cum catcher” when she tried to address him. Another officer flamboyantly made fun of an inmate who had razor burn on her thigh and encouraged other staff and prisoners to mock her too.
The DOJ unearthed that officers use sex to play favorites—they smuggle drugs, makeup, coffee, sugar, perfume, alcohol, and tampons for women who put out. It’s not just guards, either. One instructor let women use his prison-approved laptop to send emails or to work on court and tax documents and résumés in exchange for a cellphone photo shoot of the prisoners in their underwear. Officers encourage sexual relationships between the women; they arrange for special contests in which prisoners win the opportunity to spend mealtime with their girlfriends. This may sound sweet but for the fact that it, like playing favorites, leads to a competitively sexualized environment, culminating in bizarre events like at least two improvised “strip shows,” one on New Year’s Eve, when an officer happily volunteered his flashlight as a strobe.
http://www.vice.com/read/tutwiler-womens-prison-is-a-hot-house-of-sexual-violence