Comments on: Prison Rape and the 13th Amendment

By: legal title

legal title — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:13:43 +0000

I don't think there has to be "legal title" for it to qualify as slavery. There are criminal statutes that define slavery and involuntary servitude, in cases like US v Kozminski, as encompassing the compelled labor of someone under the threat of physical violence.

By: nhk227

nhk227 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:35:11 +0000

Prison rape is cruel and unusual punishment enabled by the State (8th amendment violation), sexual slavery committed by the gangs (13th amendment violation), and the actual rape (violation of laws against rape) carried out by the prison rapists.

But mostly, prison rape is a crime against humanity which is tacitly condoned by We the People.

By: Grewgills

Grewgills — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:43:32 +0000

We've generally used the term "white slavery" to refer to forced prostitution outside the prison context, as in your example...They're incarcerated through due process for criminal conduct and then becoming crime victims.

Within the legal incarceration they are being further limited in movement and freedom and being treated as property by the gangs that hold and use them. The only substantive difference is the baseline level of freedom they are legally due. In what other way is their life meaningfully different than that of a sex slave?

By: floyd

floyd — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:06:11 +0000

James;
Thank you for bringing this subject to light here.
The State [and the corrections officers by proxy] are in fact accessories to the crimes committed against those in their charge.
As are those in the public and law enforcement who make a joke of it.
Incarceration is not proscription.Punishment should be limited to that prescribed by the court.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:24:44 +0000

By this narrow definition the women brought into America and Europe from SE Asia, Mexico, and elsewhere then imprisoned and forced to work as prostitutes with all pay going to their captors are not slaves.

We've generally used the term "white slavery" to refer to forced prostitution outside the prison context, as in your example. The modifier "white," in addition to referring to the race of the captive and distinguishing it in that way from African slavery, also seems to indicate that it's of a separate piece from traditional forms of slavery. But prisoners who are being raped aren't in the same category. They aren't being captured and having their freedom denied by those accosting them. They're incarcerated through due process for criminal conduct and then becoming crime victims.

By: Grewgills

Grewgills — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:59:52 +0000

It strikes me as a stretch to term systematic rape of inmates by other inmates “slavery” in a 13th Amendment sense. A prison gang’s claiming “ownership” does not actually confer title.

Does slavery require state sanction and official title in order to qualify as slavery?
By this narrow definition the women brought into America and Europe from SE Asia, Mexico, and elsewhere then imprisoned and forced to work as prostitutes with all pay going to their captors are not slaves.