By Carolyn Bennett (excerpts, editing, comment)
Reported yesterday to the U.S. Department of Justice were results
of an Equal Justice Initiative, “Investigation into Sexual Violence at Tutwiler
Prison for Women”
Finding One
Correctional staff are
raping incarcerated women
Based on its investigations, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
concluded that, between 2004 and 2011, officials of Tutwiler Prison for Women and
the Alabama Department of Corrections received dozens of complaints of sexual
misconduct involving male staff and women prisoners.
“The most visible and striking evidence of Tutwiler staff
members’ illegal sexual contact with incarcerated women is the resulting
pregnancies.
“In 2010, a woman in custody gave birth to a baby after
being raped by a correctional officer at Tutwiler Prison.
“Over the past five years, [the Equal Justice Initiative] received
numerous complaints from women who became pregnant after having been raped by
male correctional staff.”
Finding Two
Correctional staff are
sexually assaulting incarcerated women
“From 2006 to 2011, several women incarcerated at Tutwiler
Prison were sexually assaulted by male correctional staff, sometimes with
another male officer serving as a lookout.
“Women also have been coerced by male correctional staff who
smuggled contraband items, including food and toiletries, and required women to
perform sexual ‘favors’ in exchange for the contraband goods.”
Universal Declaration
of Human Rights [1948] Preamble
excerpt
Whereas
recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of
all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
in the world,
Whereas
disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which
have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which
human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and
want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas
it is essential, if man is [people are] not to be compelled to have recourse,
as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human
rights should be protected by the rule of law…
Equal Justice
Initiative continues
Finding Three
The system and
officials are subjecting incarcerated women to
pervasive sexual
harassment
“Unwelcome sexual touching, harassment and taunting, verbal
abuse, and other forms of sexual misconduct by male correctional staff [against]
female inmates are commonplace.
“Incarcerated women who complained about being sexually
harassed reported that the warden’s response was to call them liars, to accuse
them of trying to get the officers in trouble with their wives, and to threaten them with segregation and loss of
privileges.”
Finding Four
Evidence shows Alabama
officials are under-reporting
the number of
incidents of sexual assault
Since September 2010, the Alabama Department of Corrections
has provided NO data on sexual misconduct.
During 2011, at least four Tutwiler employees were indicted on charges of custodial sexual
misconduct or custodial sexual abuse.
Though in 2009, the Department of Corrections reported NO incidents
of sexual misconduct or harassment, court records show two officers in women’s
facilities were indicted for custodial sexual misconduct that year.
Universal Declaration
of Human Rights
Articles
pertaining
Article
3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
Article
5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.
Article
12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his [her] privacy …,
nor to attacks upon his [her] honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to
the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Equal Justice
Initiative continues
Finding Five
Allegations of sexual
abuse are met with punitive responses, creating an atmosphere of intimidation,
discouraging inmate complaints
of sexual misconduct
Women who report sexual abuse at Tutwiler Prison for Women are
routinely placed in segregation by the warden; and while in segregation, these
women are treated as “women held there for punitive reasons: deprived of
telephone, mail, and visiting privileges; denied access to recreation,
programs, or work assignments.
Incarcerated women sexually abused by correctional officers
are denied the right to know the results of Department of Corrections’ investigations
into their cases — even when the claims of sexual abuse have been substantiated
and formal action has been taken to fire the offending correctional officer.
 |
| UDHR |
Tutwiler Prison for
Women fails to enforce restrictions on male correctional officers’ viewing nude
inmates creates
an increased and
unnecessary
risk of sexual
misconduct and abuse
Defenseless naked to impunity
of the depraved
Women incarcerated at Tutwiler Prison for Women have
virtually no means of preventing male guards or other staff from viewing their
nude bodies while they change clothes, shower, or even use the bathroom.
There is evidence that some male officers exploit their
authority and unbridled access to incarcerated women’s nude bodies by standing
in the dorm or shower areas, watching women undress and bathe, commenting on
their bodies. Witness reports affirm that male officers frequently stand in toilet
and shower areas watching women undress, bathe, and use the toilet.
Inmates reported to Equal Justice Initiative investigators that
their complaints of these depraved toilet/shower voyeurs were met with
laughter.
Excerpt
continues
… Whereas the
peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person
and in the equal rights of men and women and
have determined to promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in
cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and
observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms
is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge —
Now, therefore proclaimed in 1948 by nations
assembled at the UN General Assembly: “this Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as a
common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to
the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote
respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and
international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and
observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the
peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.”
One would
think that the U.S. States of Alabama, Illinois, California, New York and
others, states domestic and international, and their politicians and citizens
are not exempt from the rule of this universal declaration nor are they unable
to figure out the difference between mere “desires” of individuals and basic
rights due to human beings as — and for no other reason than because they
are — human
beings.
Sources and notes
“In Alabama, accounts of sexual violence in women’s prison
draw call for investigation,” May 22, 2012, http://fsrn.org/
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble and 30
articles at Britannica
Equal Justice Initiative, “Investigation Into Sexual
Violence at Tutwiler Prison for Women” (findings), May 2012, http://eji.org/eji/files/EJI%20Findings_from_Tutwiler_Investigation.pdf
“Complaint Filed Today with Department of Justice Finding
Widespread Pattern of Officer-on-Inmate Sexual Violence at Prison for Women in
Alabama,” May 22, 2012
 |
| EJI STAFF |
“…The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) filed a complaint with
the U.S. Justice Department calling for a swift and thorough federal
investigation into widespread sexual abuse of women prisoners by male guards at
Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama.
“In interviews with more than 50 women incarcerated at
Tutwiler, EJI uncovered evidence of frequent and severe officer-on-inmate
sexual violence.
“EJI is now asking the Department of Justice to investigate
the Alabama Department of Corrections’ failure to adequately protect prisoners
from sexual violence by Tutwiler employees.…” http://eji.org/eji/node/637
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
The Equal Justice Initiative litigates on behalf of
condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders and people wrongly convicted or charged
with violent crimes; poor people denied effective representation and others
whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct.
EJI works with communities marginalized by poverty and
discouraged by unequal treatment.
EJI prepares reports, newsletters and manuals to assist
advocates and policymakers in the critically important work of reforming the
administration of criminal justice.
The Equal Justice Initiative is a private, nonprofit
organization providing legal representation to indigent defendants and
prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment within the legal system.
Contact information: Equal Justice Initiative, 122 Commerce
Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104; Phone: 334-269-1803; Fax: 334-269-1806; Email:
contact_us@eji.org
Tutwiler Prison for Women
According to its website, this prison is “named in honor of
the ‘Angel of the Stockades,’ Julia S. Tutwiler, a noted Alabama educator and
crusader for inmate education, classification, and improvement of prison
conditions” [astonishing]; and is a “death-row,”
“maximum-security prison”…
Receiving unit for all in-coming female
inmates; nine dormitories, segregation and isolation units, medical infirmary, units
for inmates who are pregnant, HIV positive, or aged and/or infirmed; an
auditorium, a chapel, substance-abuse treatment, and administrative ancillary
services; clothing factory manufacturing inmate clothing items for the
Department and county jails. Capacity: 956
Opened in 1942, later expanded: 8966 U.S. Highway 231 North,
Wetumpka, AL 36092
Warden: Frank Albright, Phone: (334) 567-4369
Alabama Department of Corrections
Kim T. Thomas, Commissioner
301 S. Ripley Street
P.O. Box 301501
Montgomery, AL 36130-1501
Phone: 334-353-3883 (Central Office Switchboard)
Other Officials: Deputy Commissioner Maintenance &
Construction
Greg Lovelace, 353-3872;
Treatment Director, Ron Cavanaugh, 353-3887; Community Corrections Director, Jeffery
Williams, 353-4633; Supervised Reentry Program, Steve Watson, 353-9702; Victim/Constituent
Services, Janet LeJeune, 353-3871; General Counsel, Anne Hill,
353-3885; Public Information Manager, Brian Corbett
Robert Bentley, Governor
http://www.doc.state.al.us/facility.asp?id=18
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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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