Yup. The title there pretty much says it all: Terry Lee Alexander was in jail one night, and apparantly alone enough that he figured he’d take care of his “daily maintenance.” The guard monitoring his cell (from the control area - not walking the rounds, BTW), and the jail authorities, have pressed the incident to a full charge for a misdemeanor indecent exposure charge. The linked article doesn’t make it clear whether, if convicted, that this must include a place on the sex offenders registry. (The sex offender registry is one reason that Alexander has refused a plea - apparantly there was no way to be sure, at the time of making the plea whether he’d be put on the registry.)
The linked article makes it clear that the guard has to be the one to press the charge. And that in this jail this guard has been behind eight or nine other charges during that same time.
What I’m wondering, esp. if Qagdop or other of our Dopers who are familiar with the corrections environment would care to chime in, just how do people expect generally young and fit men and women to serve their whole jail terms without masturbating? I can understand that there would have to be actions taken for egregious behaviors, but the linked article seems to present the event as being pretty much a guy stuck alone who wasn’t trying to offend or shock anyone.
I guess part of my reaction is that during my time in the Navy masturbation was more or less accepted as a fact. There really wasn’t any place one could go to be private, even one’s bunks had only a curtain around them. And at that we had far more privacy than I believe that most prisoners have. So, if we would know who’d been in their bunk for reasons other than sleeping, how can anyone expect to keep it private and hidden in a jail?
Ok so does that mean that when a prisoner goes to the bathroom or takes a shower that that is indecent exposure too?
Honestly, how is “self-maintenance” any different than other necessary bodily functions such as urinating and defecating? I think it would be awful if jails criminalized a normal and necessary (IMHO) bodily function. I wonder if the ACLU will get involved?
Well I think the difference is pinching one off is something I’ve done in front of other men. Rubbing one out, however, I like to keep that to myself. I would imagine a little discretion would go a long way in that area.
Most correctional officers recognize that the inmate’s cell is the only ‘home’ and ‘privacy’ he tends to get, and are not of a mind to be either unduly intrusive or prudish. So lots of this activity, if not disruptive, is unofficially tolerated.
On the other hand, many inmates are less than discreet in their masturbatory habits, and some are downright show-offish. Hence the rules against the practice. A rule that allows ‘discreet’ activity while forbidding ‘blatant’ behavior could never be applied or uniformly adjudicated.
I’d have to look at Florida’s statutes but the indecent exposure/public indecency statutes I recall reading usually require that there be a reasonable chance that the supposedly indecent act be observed by another. Sounds like the case might hinge on the reasonableness of that chance.
Wisconsin statutes say one is guilty of “lewd and lacivious behavior” if one
There’s no stautory definition of “public” but a supreme court case has narrowed the scope of the statute’s application to “protecting children” from obscene material and preventing “assaults on the sensibilities of unwilling adults in public.” Hard to say whether getting one’s jailhouse rocks off alone would qualify under the statute as interpreted.
First, let me thank Qadgop (I hope I have it spelled right, this time.) for coming by to offer his two cents.
The thing that I find sad about this is that I could imagine scenarios where the guard involved really has been being messed with by an impromptu series of prisoners, in which case her actions are entirely understandable. It’s not my idea of the most likely explaination, but I can imagine it.
I’ll admit, too, that I’m kinda cheesed at the way that the linked article was whining about how the county was responsible for the costs of keeping this guy in the local jail, instead of passing him off to the state, where, apparantly there’s no cost to anyone for keeping him. :dubious:
Broward county’s top cop is a twisted man. Not only is he insisting on punishing grown men for masturbating, but he’s got a female deputy watching the male inmates on video. The fact that deputy Veal goes along with the madness shows that she’s from a half-century ago. This is bad craziness. :smack:
