Apparently, a county jail in Live Oak County, Texas, was a rape camp, where female inmates were repeatedly harassed, fondled, raped and forced to perform sex acts on each other for the amusement of jailers. A lawsuit by two female inmates made the allegations, and three guards were arrested, two of whom are in jail and one of whom was not. (Kind of surprising, I didn’t think the American legal system arrested perpetrators any more, at least when they are rich and powerful or part of the legal system … then again, these were very low-level people in the legal system.)
The story I linked to details the way the women were treated, but there’s another detail that adds a really fine ironic twist to the story: one of the women was arrested on a marijuana possession charge. Yes, in Texas, for one woman and probably many more, the penalty for smoking pot was serial rape.
I’ve never been one to mock a convicted scumbag by saying what a good thing it would be if he were raped while in prison, because I don’t think rape should be part of our legal system. But damn … if anyone EVER deserved it … these guards do. (They don’t deserve it, nobody does, that’s why they are and should be in prison. Still, I wouldn’t shed a tear for them if I found out they were.)
Despite your protestations, the irony meter is pinging something fierce.
This is horrible, but every person who condones/turns a blind eye to horrible behavior against “people who really deserve it,” helps pave the way for this kind of thing.
First off, before anyone gets their panties in a wad, the county and guards are being sued. Nobody’s been found guilty yet, so it’s all supposition at this point, that is unless we’ve just given up on due process, and since it’s a lurid accusation of people in Texas, we’re just assuming it’s true.
OK, I guess that settles *that *then, DS. :rolleyes:
The linked article says the pot charge was actually dropped, btw.
And the outrage here isn’t recreational, or shouldn’t be - it should be real, assuming the facts are anything like the allegations. There was a system in place there for an extended period that people in that jail knew about, and by their inaction accepted.
Hmm. I wrote that they were jailed because the text read:
I assumed that Smith and Aguilar were inmates in Texas state prisons, given that the paragraph immediately followed the paragraph about them being charged. But iit could be that they are working in Texas state prisons. Would have been nice if that point had been made clearer.
As a recovering Texan, I understand your anger. Often felt the same way myself. Like when I read about the lawyer who fell asleep at his clients capital murder trial, I thought the same thing, well, its Texas, so everybody assumes the worst. Turns out it was true. Then I read that the case went to a higher court, and thought, well, good, they’ll reverse that mistake, and give the guy at least a fair trial. Nope, they upheld the conviction.
And other examples too numerous to mention. So, yeah, at this point in time…I do pretty much assume the charges have merit.
The reason I called it recreational outrage is that no one could possibly be on the sides of the guards, if the allegations are true. So far as I know, no one defends such conduct.
To be fair, I remember reading about a Georgia defense attorney sleeping a lot during a murder trial, I believe one of those Jim Crow-era lynching/trials we used to have, but I can’t find a cite for it. While I was looking, the one for the Houston sleepers popped right up. You’re welcome!
True dat.
But regardless of the rape angle, I shouldn’t expect former C.O.s to ever have a nice time on the other side of the bars. And I can’t really say I’m shedding tears about it - abuse of a power entrusted to you by society is among the worse crimes there is, IMO.
I know, right ?
I’ve always understood it as “This is something that doesn’t affect me in any way, shape or form, but I heard about it and now I’m pissed off all the same”.
When I saw the date on the article, I wondered if it was one of those troll-revived threads.