http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/28/1416084/-Michigan-court-says-juveniles-can-be-raped-and-abused-in-prison?detail=email
Imagine a scenario where children are raped, abused, and neglected, yet the court refuses to address the problem or hold those responsible accountable.
Seems crazy? Well, welcome to Michigan.
In yet another example of America's disturbing incarceration traditions, Michigan imprisoned a number of 17-year-old juveniles with adults, and prison guards and other staff did a terrible job of providing these children sufficient monitoring and protection. These kids were raped and abused by other inmates and even sexually assaulted by guards.
Here's just one tragic story, told to the Detroit News, from one of the 11 plaintiffs who filed suit:
Normally, at least one guard was stationed outside Kinross Correctional Facility's shower area, no more than 20 feet away. But he said no one came to help, and the rape of the 17-year-old continued. "He stopped on his own there after about ... I'd say a minute-and-a-half to two minutes. He stopped. He left. I stayed in the shower as long as I could. I was actually bleeding ..."I pretty much just sat in the shower, crying. I never expected it to happen to me.
The plaintiffs claim that Gov. Rick Snyder, the Michigan Department of Corrections, and 15 wardens from Michigan prisons "violated their civil rights— essentially failing to protect an at-risk segment of the prison population and demonstrating 'deliberate indifference to their safety.'" According to the Detroit News:
"The lawsuits describe alleged incidents in which teens were forced into sex acts by adult prisoners through physical violence or the threat of it. In some cases, corrections facility employees are accused of sexual harassment, allowing assaults to happen or ignoring requests for help from teen inmates."
A Michigan appeals court dismissed the case on a minor procedural technicality, one that did not warrant or require the court to dismiss. And, if that wasn't bad enough, the court decided to also address the substantive claims—and ruled against the children. The Detroit Free Press reports:
The lawsuit alleges violations of the prisoners' rights under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, but the appeals court said a 1999 amendment the Legislature made to the state civil rights law explicitly said the law does not apply to prisons.
The plaintiffs argued that amendment was unconstitutional because it denies prisoners equal protection under the law, and cited a 2007 federal court case, Mason v. Granholm, in which the judge ruled the 1999 amendment was unconstitutional.
But the court rejected the arguments. […]
The court said that prisoners don't seek out public services covered by the civil rights law in the way members of the general public do, but "are compelled to be there, and must be content, for the most part, with the services provided."
In other words, if you're raped and abused in prison, you just have to deal with it.
The boy who told the above story was 17 when he was raped. The Detroit News reports that he "stood about 5-foot-7 and weighed roughly 130 pounds, and said he was overpowered by a man who was 20 years older and outweighed him by as much as 50 pounds."
This is a horrifying but unsurprising story in Michigan, which has a terrible record on over incarceration and over-prosecution. Michigan ranks sixth in number of juveniles being housed in adult prisons. And although there are federal laws that require juveniles and adults to be separated by "sight and sound," the state has been sued on this very issue in the past.
red states governed by republicans are the worst states as far as rights and defending them also another reason republicans keep saying they want states rights returned to the states i guess so they can do things like this and denying healthcare work place and voice rights you know the stuff that those in those red states don't have.
last but not least this tends to support my thoughts about right wing and republicans supporting rape of anyone, why would they allow such things there was no mention of determent just abuse with no punishment sounds like sanction.
