Inmates Forced To Have Sex At Florida's Prison For Women

Horrific Report: At Largest US Women’s Prison, Inmates Forced To Have Sex For Basic Necessities .This is a major problem in most of America’s prisons! it is one of the most widespread forms of prison abuse. The abusers must be prosecuted! At the foundation of our civil liberties lies the principle that denies to government officials an exceptional position before the law and which subjects them to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. – Justice Louis D. Brandeis Florida is one of the largest women’s corrections facilities in the United States, and it is also notorious for being one of the most corrupt and brutal. Recently, numerous inmates have come forward with allegations that they were routinely sexually abused and assaulted by both male and female guards. According to various complaints filed between 2011 and 2015, female inmates would be forced to “barter” sexual acts with guards in exchange for basic necessities like soap and food. According to the complaints, women at Lowell who submitted to the sexual demands of the guards were rewarded with the best food and living supplies available. Meanwhile, women who refused were harassed, neglected, denied basic necessities, and sometimes put in solitary confinement. In many cases, women were put through psychological evaluations and labeled as mentally ill as a result of refusing the guard’s sexual advances.and labeled as mentally ill as a result of refusing the guard’s sexual advances. As we reported last year, in one case, a woman named Latandra Ellington attempted to file a complaint against the guards at Lowell, saying that she was being sexually assaulted, and she was murdered just days later. According to family members, Latandra may have been planning to speak out about the rampant sexual abuse that the correctional officers at the prison have been inflicting on the inmates. Marion County Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway told the Miami Herald that the sex taking place in these situations was “consensual,” however it is obvious that women in prison are dependent upon the mercy of these guards for their survival, and that the sexual acts in these situations were coerced. sexual activity was absolutely coerced. “What I saw was that some of the girls were truly victims of rape and sexual assault and battery. I believed them when they told me it was unsolicited, uninvited and a nightmare,” Johnson argued. The allegations sparked an investigation by the Miami Herald, which revealed that complaints of rape were frequently silenced by the staff at the prison In the past decade, only two officers were arrested for sexual misconduct at the prison, but both of them pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and only spent a few months in jail. “The so-called punishment for an officer who rapes an inmate is to get transferred to another facility. Florida’s prisons allow officers to rape women in prison because the inmates aren’t considered to have any rights,” Nancy G. Abudu, legal director for the ACLU of Florida pointed out. http://thefreethoughtproject.com/largest-womens-prison-inmates-forced-sex-guards-exchange-basic-necessities-large/