Turning a blind eye to what happens behind bars does us no favours in the battle to end sexual violence in SA. We live in a society that simultaneously condones and rejects rape. Our collective consciousness is aware of the staggeringly high statistics of rape in the country and while at certain times of the
Listen to BBC Radio Solent’s piece on prison sexual abuse in England and Wales here (see 41:00 minute mark).
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the Lackawanna County Prison’s inmate sexual abuse scandal unfolded because of an ingrained “culture” that allowed it to happen. Prison watchdog groups say he is right. “I think culture is the right word,” said Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, communications director for Just Detention International, a Los Angeles-based inmate advocacy group that
Like many Americans, Jan Lastocy was watching the Larry Nassar sentencing hearing this week. She listened to Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. “I was loving even before the closing that she let every survivor who wanted to talk, talk,” Lastocy told me. “I loved that about her.” Then came the moment when Aquilinia said this to the packed courtroom:
It is a sadly predictable facet of American life that whenever a high-profile rape sentence is handed down, the first instinct of many people is not to celebrate the triumph of justice or applaud the courage of survivors. Instead, their response is to express a desire for the perpetrator to be sexually assaulted in prison.