The abuse of power
Prison guards also fuel the fire of hatred within the prisoners. The guards are meant to keep order within the prison by suppressing the inmates accordingly. Due to their nature prisoners are already hateful of all authority and law enforcement officers, so they do not take kindly to prison guards ordering them around. Although most guards are highly professional, there are quite a few who abuse their power. Prison guard brutality is a big problem in the US’s prison system today. Jelpi Picou an inmate at Orleans Parish Prison describes his experiences with prison guards there. “They demean people, they humiliate them, they try to emasculate people,” Picou said. “They are unprofessional and inhumane, from the top to the bottom.” Unable to retaliate the anger and hatred brews inside of the prisoners, just waiting to lash out in a burst of violence.
In 2007 the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released a report declaring that in one year alone, more than 70,000 of the 1,570,861 prisoners in the US report getting sexually abused. That was only inmate-on-inmate sexual
misconduct. With staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct factored in, the odds of being sexually abused grow exponentially. “A prison in Nebraska had the highest reported rate of staff-on-inmate sexual abuse, 12.2 percent. The BJS survey asked inmates to indicate whether their sexual activity with staff was “willing” or “unwilling.” In the prison context, however, this distinction is meaningless.”. With this prominent threat of sexual abuse, the horrors of prison life should start to sink in. After coming to the realization of what awaits the condemned behind those prison walls, death suddenly becomes a very reasonable option over life in prison without parole. |
“They demean people, they humiliate them, they try to emasculate people, they are unprofessional and inhumane, from the top to the bottom.” Jelpi Picou |