WARNING: This post discusses rape and rape culture, aspects of prison rape, and information about the treatment and death of teenager Ashley Smith. Please leave the post if the topics make you uncomfortable.
The Case of Ashley Smith
On October 19th, 2007, nineteen year-old Ashley Smith strangled herself to death in a Kitchener prison while guards watched. The incident, along with several other recordings of attempts to restrain Ashley by injecting her with sedatives and duct taping her to a chair, went viral. Ashley’s family filed a lawsuit against the correctional service of Canada, and settled out of court. At fifteen she was sentenced to 30 days for throwing crab apples at a postal worker. Incidents inside prison extended her incarceration until her death at nineteen. She was transferred a total of 17 times between 9 prisons, moving to an adult penitentiary at eighteen; a majority of the time spent in segregation (solitary confinement). News of the life of Ashley began to surface, raising questions about the prison system, and seeming unethical and negligent treatment of its inmates. If Ashley was mentally ill, as has been speculated but not confirmed, should she have been in prison in the first place? What are the effects of protracted solitary confinement? How did the endless transfers affect her mental well being? We may never have all the answers but the case should make us question prison ethics, and the use of prisons as method of social control of certain groups of people.
Prisons, Mental Health, and Solitary Confinement
The deinstitutionalization of the mental health system has meant that increasingly prisons are becoming the new living quarters of people with mental health issues. Not all people who go to prison have a mental health issue; however, there is evidence that prison conditions are damaging to mental health. Studies have shown that solitary confinement can be as stressful as physical torture, with suicide rates highest in segregation units. The negative environment can create or worsen any existing mental health problems. Despite such evidence, why do you think we still use solitary confinement in prisons?
Guards described Ashley Smith as manipulative, and difficult to handle. However, it seems rational to me that she would act out as it was her only method of interacting with others. The attention and blame is focused on the victim, rather than issues with the prison and social support systems.
Thus, we arrive at my first example of victim blaming. I strongly believe that Ashley was a victim of a problematic prison system, unethical treatment, and negligence which caused her death. The videos below illustrate my point.
WARNING: Both videos are extremely graphic and may be disturbing. The first shows the death of Ashley Smith. The second shows troubling treatment involving her being duct taped to a chair, during one of her many transfers.
Prisons show Systemic Oppression: Race and Gender
The prison creates victims of and oppresses the mentally ill, but it is also surrounds issues of race and gender. It does not take a magnifying glass to see that crime discriminates against race. The war on drugs is directed at the black population even though the rate of drug use is similar among whites (Aulette and Wittner 377). African Americans make up 13% of the population of the United States but 51% for men (50 % for women) of the prison population (377). Aboriginals in Canada are well represented in prisons but make up a very small percent of the general population. This is problematic because certain groups of people are blamed for crime in general, while the fact that they are also victims of systemic racism is ignored.
Gender too, is an area of oppression. Women face increased difficulties in prisons. These include special health needs such as pregnancy, and fewer prisons resulting in inmates being moved far from home. Men make up half of the population but are 80 % of the prison population (374). Some will try to use biology as an excuse, saying that increased testosterone is the culprit. However, I challenge this theory. We value “manly” men, those who are tough, strong, and aggressive. If you behave otherwise, your value as a man is questioned. Could this not contribute to the higher rate of violence among men? Could this cause the justice system to be harsher on men than women?
Finally, the prison system reinforces the gender dichotomy. Your genitals or birth gender (not gender identity) determine whether you are incarcerated with other males or females. This means transgendered persons may be placed into solitary confinement because of the negative attention their gender brings after being placed in the wrong prison. This, along with lack of proper medical care such as hormone therapy, results in an extremely harsh environment. More disturbing is often the transgendered end up in prison because of gender discrimination. In the film Cruel and Unusual: Transgender Women in Prison (2006, USA), one inmate is unable to find a job because she cannot “pass” as a woman so steals to survive. Another person resorts to stealing to pay for sex reassignment surgery.
Social constructions of oppression and stereotyping often “create” criminals by punishing minorities. Thus entire groups of people oppressed and victimized by society, and are blamed for crime.
Rape as Punishment
Prison rape jokes and references give the idea that rape is not as serious in prison. Rape is viewed as just another part of punishment for committing a crime. Most people would not condone rape in any circumstance, yet when considered in the prison system it seems to be more acceptable. Our culture seems to view prisoners as losing some aspect of personhood. However, the whole concept of rape culture is a dangerous downward spiral. If rape is joked about in one instance, we will eventually find humour in it in another circumstance. Where do we draw the line? Rape is never acceptable or funny. The effect of rape culture can be seen in the Steubenville rape case, when it was implied that rape by an entire football team can be dismissed since the victim may have slept around, or was drinking. Furthermore, in news broadcasts, many reports sided with the rapists and mourned over the loss of their futures, again implying that the victim is to blame.
Conclusion: Rehabilitation or Criminalization?
In conclusion, I believe that the attempted blaming of the Steubenville rape victim, the blame placed on Ashley Smiths mental illness, the blame placed on certain racial or gender groups for crime, and the ignorant acceptance of prison rape are all related. In all cases, the victims (whether they be victimized individually, institutionally, or systemically) are blamed. Not all criminals are “victims”, nor can we dismiss the crimes committed by the marginalized in our society. However, it is a mistake to look at a criminal or groups of criminals only as criminals. This is not a conclusive answer, and will lead us nowhere. Money spent to house criminals should be put into social programs to prevent putting people in the situations that are conducive to crime. We need to rehabilitate rather than criminalize, and question before we think to blame victims of failing aspects of society.
~fluffykitty123
References:
Aulette, J. R., Wittner, J. (2012). Gendered Worlds: Politics, Prison, and the Military. New York, New York: Oxford University Press (2012). Print. 359-394
Article on Solitary Confinement and Mental Health: http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/03/22/solitary-confinement-and-mental-illness-us-prisons
redefiningidentity2013 