Because of some of the fiction I've been reading I wanted to find out some of the reality.
Some statistics and research about prison and rape and the horror is that it's much more the rule than the exception. What really gets me is that reading some of the stories about fictional Neal in prison, at first I looked at them as, well, fiction.
But when I got wondering and read what is happening in today's prisons, as far out as the fiction seems to go, it doesn't scratch the surface. That line about the auctioning got me because that happens. The auctions, the enslavement, the borrowing, ... rape is just the tip of the ice berg. Reading some of the testimony of victims, well, let's say I never felt so sick to my stomach reading a psychological study.
Anyway, thank you for writing this.
There was a documentary a few years ago done at the prison in Rahway, NJ called "Scared Straight," which is about a program started by "lifers" who saw that kids younger and younger were convicted of more violent crimes. They wanted to do something about it and started the Scared Straight Program where they talk to "at risk" teenagers to scare them by telling them of what life is like in prison. The effectiveness has been debated and there are some studies that show that the program, which has spread to other prisons, does the opposite, and some kids feel encouraged to commit crimes.
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Date: 2010-05-02 08:05 pm (UTC)Because of some of the fiction I've been reading I wanted to find out some of the reality.
Some statistics and research about prison and rape and the horror is that it's much more the rule than the exception. What really gets me is that reading some of the stories about fictional Neal in prison, at first I looked at them as, well, fiction.
But when I got wondering and read what is happening in today's prisons, as far out as the fiction seems to go, it doesn't scratch the surface. That line about the auctioning got me because that happens. The auctions, the enslavement, the borrowing, ... rape is just the tip of the ice berg. Reading some of the testimony of victims, well, let's say I never felt so sick to my stomach reading a psychological study.
Anyway, thank you for writing this.
There was a documentary a few years ago done at the prison in Rahway, NJ called "Scared Straight," which is about a program started by "lifers" who saw that kids younger and younger were convicted of more violent crimes. They wanted to do something about it and started the Scared Straight Program where they talk to "at risk" teenagers to scare them by telling them of what life is like in prison. The effectiveness has been debated and there are some studies that show that the program, which has spread to other prisons, does the opposite, and some kids feel encouraged to commit crimes.
So, again, thanks for writing.