Prison Brutality
If you are facing prison time, and you are concerned about your personal welfare, the most important thing that you can do is stay in contact with your lawyer and keep a journal describing any prison brutality. Although very few inmates are ever granted their day in court for prison brutality, you do have rights even when you are incarcerated.
Prison Brutality: The Guards
Depending on the type of prison where you are incarcerated – county, state or federal prison – the guards have different levels of brutality. You do have to realize that guards who work in federal prisons are faced with the legions of people in the U.S. who have committed violent crimes, and who would like nothing better than to kill or injure a prison guard. For that reason, they must be tough, because if they back down and show any sign of weakness, that vulnerability will be exploited at their expense.
However, if you are respectful of the guards in a prison, then you should have nothing to fear when it comes to prison brutality. Do what you are told, as soon as you are told to do it, and avoid associating with other inmates who have made it their business to get on the guards’ bad sides.
Prison Brutality: Male Inmates
The most common type of prison brutality when it comes to male inmates is the prevalence of rape. It doesn’t have to do with homosexuality or even rape, but of dominance over other inmates. Male inmates do not rape other male inmates so they can have sex in jail, or because they have homosexual tendencies; they simply want to show other inmates that they are Alpha inmates.
Stay away from inmates who are known to rape others, and try not to anger anyone. Never allow yourself to be tricked into following another inmate where guards cannot see, and if you are threatened, be sure to tell a guard immediately. Similarly, you should report any prison brutality to your attorney.
Prison Brutality: Female Inmates
Some say that female inmates are even “scarier” than their male counterparts. Female criminals are often more brutal than male criminals because their motives are almost always different. They are known to pick fights, encourage homosexual relations, gang up on one another in prison gangs, and shun any woman inmate whose motives seem to be pure.
It is true that there is a hierarchy among prison inmates concerning the reasons for their incarceration. Child molesters are the lowest on the totem pole, and tend to be the ones who are brutalized the worst.
Medical conditions, sanitary conditions and other factors all play into the issue of prison brutality. Obviously, this is an issue that is not as well-publicized as it should be because the victims are, in fact, criminals. However, steps are planned in the near future to exercise more control over the victimizers in the prison system.
