My ignorance of the penal system? You can't even make up your own mind about how you think inmate classification works.
First it was (your words) "anyone receiving a five year or less sentence will receive a minimum security level classification." Then it was "Granted" (your word) that "California's inmate classification system involves numerous factors besides length of sentence" (my words). But somehow, without any discussion of those numerous factors, it was (your words) "still a minimum security classification."
Inmate classification also takes into account age, criminal history, physical size, and other things. I suppose that you'll find some way to claim that our hypothetical burglar/thief will end up a minimum-security facility, because that's the conclusion you want. And whether cogent reasoning actually leads to the conclusion, well, who cares? You certainly don't.
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As to rape, estimates of prevalence vary considerably, just as do estimates of the frequency of rape in the non-incarcerated population.
Human Rights Watch has pointed out:
Indeed, the most recent academic studies of the issue have found shockingly high rates of sexual abuse, including forced oral and anal intercourse. In December 2000, the Prison Journal published a study based on a survey of inmates in seven men's prison facilities in four states. The results showed that 21 percent of the inmates had experienced at least one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since being incarcerated, and at least 7 percent had been raped in their facility. A 1996 study of the Nebraska prison system produced similar findings, with 22 percent of male inmates reporting that they had been pressured or forced to have sexual contact against their will while incarcerated. Of these, over 50 percent had submitted to forced anal sex at least once. Extrapolating these findings to the national level gives a total of at least 140,000 inmates who have been raped.
insideprison.com has reported:
A study of four Midwestern states in 2000 found that about 1 in 5 inmates experiences some form of pressured or coerced sexual conduct while incarcerated (Struckman-Johnson & Struckman-Johnson, 2000). According to Stephen Donaldson, the president of the organization Stop Prisoner Rape and previous inmate victim of prison rape, roughly 300,000 inmates are sexually abused each year (Donaldson 1995).
The
National Prison Rape Elimination Commission has observed that "sexual abuse of prisoners is widespread ...." It has also noted:
The first study specifically of prevalence -- examining abuse in the Philadelphia jail system -- was published in 1968. The most rigorous research produced since then -- mainly of sexual abuse among incarcerated men -- has yielded prevalence rates in the mid-to-high teens, but none of these are national studies.
Pursuant to the Prison Rape Elimination Act, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has conducted a national study of the prevalence of sexual abuse in prisons and jails. The NPREC candidly acknowledges that that study "may not capture the full extent of the problem ...."
As reported by the NPREC, that study concludes that "Four-and-a-half percent of [63,817] prisoners surveyed reported experiencing sexual abuse one or more times during the twelve months preceding the survey or over their term of incarceration if they had been confined in that facility for less than twelve months. Extrapolated to the national prison population, an estimated 60,500 State and Federal prisoners were sexually abused during that 12-month period."
It further concludes that "The rate of sexual abuse in jails appears to be slightly lower: 3.2% of inmates surveyed reported that they had been sexually abused at least once during the prior six months or since they had been confined in that facility."
Notice the phrases "one or more times" and "at least once". The study concludes that 60,500 prisoners were sexually abused, but it does not conclude that only 60,500 incidences of abuse occurred. On the contrary, if a prisoner was raped once, that counts as 1 out of the 60,500; and if a prisoner was raped many, many times, that also counts as 1 out of the 60,500.
Notice also the 12-month period in the portion of the study pertaining to prisons and the 6-month period in the portion pertaining to jails. A person who is incarcerated for longer than 12 or 6 months, respectively, has (unless something really bizarre is going on with the numbers) an even higher chance of being sexually abused while incarcerated.
And there is another significant pair of findings: In prisons, "More prisoners reported abuse by staff than abuse by other prisoners: 2.9 percent of respondents compared with about 2 percent." And in jails, "Again, reports of abuse by staff were more common than reports of abuse by other incarcerated persons: 2 percent of respondents compared with 1.6 percent."
How fucked up is that? You're more likely to be sexually abused by the people who are supposed to be protecting you from the other inmates than you are to be sexually abused by the other inmates.
As to my point that small guys are more likely to be sexually abused than are big, strong guys, well, it should be immediately obvious that those less capable of defending themselves are more vulnerable than are those more capable of defending themselves. How can anyone even dispute that, except as a way of hiding from the self-evident truth?
Even so, the NPREC confirms it: The small are more likely than the prison population as a whole to be sexually abused. (
See Section I.3. "Unequal Risk: Vulnerability and Victimization" (pp. 68-81),
esp. the subsection "Young, Small, and Naive (pp. 70-71).)
And insideprison.com agrees:
According to Daniel Lockwood (1978), there are "aggressors" for prison sexual assault, and there are "targets," otherwise known as "Fags" (natural homosexuals), "Queens" (flaunting transsexual), "Kids" (submissive, young sex-slaves), or "Punks" (resistant males that put up a fight at first but who eventually submits). Target-prisoners are "physically slight, young, white," .... ... Physical appearance is essential in determining the target of a rape, as it is often used as a yardstick for assessing how "successful" a rape attempt will be. In all cases, the younger, smaller-built inmates are targeted more easily, or those appearing most feminine.
(Emphases added.)
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Facts are facts, and evidence is evidence. The evidence varies on the numbers. That should not be surprising, because the numbers are all estimates, and rape is one of the most -- perhaps the most -- difficult crime to get accurate numbers about.
But the evidence does not vary on the central points. Whether the number of prisoners sexually abused is "an estimated 60,500" or "at least 140,000" or "roughly 300,000" -- the average of which is about 167,000 -- it is a disgustingly and disgracefully high number. And juries ought to be informed of it; juries ought to know what they are doing when they decide that someone should be incarcerated.
Whether the percentage of prisoners sexually abused is "Four-and-a-half percent" or "in the mid-to-high teens" or "about 1 in 5" or "21 percent" or "22 percent," it is a disgustingly and disgracefully high percentage. And juries ought to be informed of it; juries ought to know what they are doing when they decide that someone should be incarcerated.
And just as I said, "Target-prisoners are 'physically slight,'" and "smaller-built inmates are targeted more easily". That means that whatever the true percentage of the entire population of prisoners sexually abused actually is, the percentage of small prisoners who are sexually abused is greater than that.
The bottom line remains unchanged:
Most Americans don't know what goes on in ordinary prisons, because they don't want to know. It's much easier to stop thinking about someone as soon as he is sent to prison than it is to bother oneself about what happens to him in prison.
Out of sight, out of mind.
No amount of obnubiliation will change that.
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