Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Self-Love Is a Battlefield
A Florida judges adds 60 days in jail to a convicted robber's 10-year sentence. The crime?
A Broward prisoner accused of committing a sex act while he was alone in his jail cell was found guilty Tuesday of indecent exposure...
In reaching the guilty verdict, jurors found that an inmate's jail cell is ''a limited access public place'' where exposing oneself is against the law.
The judge sentenced [Terry Lee] Alexander, of Lauderdale Lakes, to 60 days in jail, on top of the 10-year sentence he is currently serving for armed robbery.
While punishing a prisoner for exposing himself seems reasonable, the guard who brought the charges is not:
Alexander's attorney argued that the prison cell was a private place and that what Alexander was doing was perfectly normal.
''Did other inmates start masturbating because of Mr. Alexander?'' [Defense attorney Kathleen] McHugh asked [BSO Deputy Coryus Veal, the officer who brought the charges]. ``Did you call a SWAT team?''
''I wish I had,'' Veal answered...
Veal, who has charged seven other inmates with the same offense, insisted that she was not against the act itself -- just the fact that Alexander was so blatant about it.
As if this case weren't silly enough:
Defense attorney Kathleen McHugh faced 17 prospective jurors and asked point-blank who among them had never done that particular sex act.
No hands went up.
If BSO Veal can't find a way to discipline prisoners for this behavior outside of the court system, perhaps she should find a new line of work.
you-know-who|7.26.07 @ 11:40AM|#
GO 'WAY! BATIN
Defense attorney Kathleen McHugh faced 17 prospective jurors
and asked point-blank who among them had never done that particular
sex act.
No hands went up.
hands - plural. hand would be at least one thing up.
[runs off]
Fluffy|7.26.07 @ 11:40AM|#
What I don't understand here is that jail cells typically have
commodes in them.
Wouldn't you have to add on another 60 days for indecent exposure
every time a prisoner took a shit?
|7.26.07 @ 11:45AM|#
Look, prisons are horrible places. All sorts of depredations happen in there--awful food, institutionalized violence, rape, isolation--but when we as a society ban beating off in prison we've finally crossed the line into abject totalitarianism. What the fuck ELSE are you supposed to do in there?
VM|7.26.07 @ 11:46AM|#
You know, we could combine "Love is a Battlefield" with "Hell is for Children" and throw in Asia's "Sole Survivor" to get some POWER BALADS!
|7.26.07 @ 11:50AM|#
Allowing prisoners to masturbate may reduce the likelihood that
they will commit homosexual rape. Next question.
This deputy is female, guarding male prisoners? Is she
hot? This could explain everything.
ktc2|7.26.07 @ 11:51AM|#
Okay, so batin' is a crime but apparently everyone looks the
other way on forcible buggery.
WTF?
fyodor|7.26.07 @ 11:56AM|#
Spilling the seed before he gets to rape a fellow inmate -- a prison Onan no-no!!
Cactus|7.26.07 @ 11:57AM|#
They get all worked up about this guy jackin' it but nary a peep
about prison rape? Oh, that's right. Prison rape is a joke. A punch
line. They deserve it. They deserve the AIDS too. Yup, the guy in
there for DWI, bad checks, fighting or some other minor offense
deserves to be raped. He deserves to die from AIDS too doesn't
he.
Oh and don't mention the racial aspects of prison rape either.
That's far too uncomfortable to talk about. Whitey deserves what he
gets.
But hey. At least we prosecuted that poor dude for jackin' off. I
feel safer. Don't you?
ed|7.26.07 @ 12:01PM|#
BSO Deputy Coryus Veal, the officer who brought the
charges
Mmmm...veal. Pink...tender...juicy...
|7.26.07 @ 12:04PM|#
This guard has all but admitted that she is doing a job she is apparently unqualified to do. What would she do if a riot broke out?
Denny Crane|7.26.07 @ 12:10PM|#
Convicted for masturbation? Never heard of such a thing. Should
have had Denny Crane for his lawyer.
Denny Crane.
Peter Bagge|7.26.07 @ 12:18PM|#
Why are there male guards in women's prisons, and female guards
in men's prisons? Seriously, why? There's no reason for it, and
it's always the source of trouble.
I think the guard's sex has everything to do with her routinely
pressing these charges. She's offended by the sight of these men
maturbating, and that's a rather normal reaction -- but again I
ask: what the hell is she doing there, in what is essentially their
homes?
The jury's verdict is also yet another example of how most
Americans refuse to think of convicts as human beings. Losing your
freedom also never seems to be enough: they want prisons to be hell
on earth.
Everyone|7.26.07 @ 12:43PM|#
It's unclear to me what anyone else would recommend be done in
this situation. We can throw up our arms and say "How outrageous!"
but the bottom line is there nothing wrong with what was done
here.
I agree that prosecuting inmates for masturbation is extreme. But
we're not talking about prosecuting inmates every time they
masturbate. This situation was one--if you read the original
article, which I'm sure few have--in which the inmate was directly
exposing himself to the officer. This is inappropriate behavior. A
jail cell clearly is not the same as if the individual was in his
home, by very fact that the officer could clearly see him. Any
officer, male or female, should not be subject to having to witness
this type of behavior. If we do permit it, such behavior could
quickly become a method of harassment from the inmates to the
officers.
Clearly, this was not just a situation of someone masturbating, but
of doing so in a way that infringed on the officer. Further, this
was a jury trial! If not a judge, and if not a jury, by what
standard and to whom do you appeal for justice? The decision was
unanimous and reached in 45 minutes.
I invoke Hayek's knowledge problem here, where Reason and its
readers are claiming to know more about this situation than either
the officer involved in it or the jury who heard the entire trial.
You don't know the whole story. If we can't trust a jury verdict of
our peers, then by what other standard?
|7.26.07 @ 12:50PM|#
In related news, Florida has the lowest rate of inmate blindness of any state in the nation.
Russ 2000|7.26.07 @ 12:51PM|#
Why are there male guards in women's prisons
Pervert fantasy
and female guards in men's prisons?
It pays better. And pervert fantasy.
|7.26.07 @ 12:52PM|#
Does this guard really want to try to maintain order in a prison
system where the prisoners can't even jerk off to relieve their
tension? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
-jcr
Rhywun|7.26.07 @ 12:56PM|#
If we can't trust a jury
You mean that group of people in court selected mostly for their
unintelligence? They don't know "the whole story" most of the time
either.
|7.26.07 @ 12:58PM|#
It could have been worse! They could have brought animal cruelty charges for spanking the monkey.
|7.26.07 @ 1:03PM|#
Your milage may vary, but in general - Prison Guard is horrible
job. The pay sucks, as do the benefits. Most of all you spend your
day in a hell-hole. All day you deal with lowlife scum, you witness
people treating people in despicable ways. And since it is often
your job to be despicable to people, over time the job turns you
into scum.
I don't know what methods of discipline were available, but filing
charges might have actually been the best option.
I agree that the "I wish I had," (called for a SWAT team) response
was over the top. But it's hard to evaluate how she was being
provoked.
Back to the point - Our prisons are hell holes. They are counter
productive in the attempt to manage a civil society. The need for
prison and sentencing reform need more attention. And compassion,
we need to overcome the Fuck Em mentality.
lunchstealer|7.26.07 @ 1:09PM|#
For fuck's sake - she saw him 'batin from a control room.
Seriously, if youre seeing something you don't want to see because
you are watching a person in the only place they're allowed to
live, by means of video surveillance, maybe you should get a job
where you don't have to watch people by video surveillance.
Especially people of the opposite sex.
Just a thought.
lunchstealer|7.26.07 @ 1:11PM|#
A friend refers to prison guards as 'the scum of the earth
guarding the scourge of the earth'.
Then there was the set of experiments where college students were
separated into prison guards with complete autonomy, and prisoners
with no rights. The guards got pretty atavistic pretty fast.
|7.26.07 @ 1:17PM|#
they can take my gun rubbing rights when they pry it out of my cold, dead, slippery fingers...
Jennifer|7.26.07 @ 1:36PM|#
Why are there male guards in women's prisons, and female
guards in men's prisons? Seriously, why?
Civil rights laws involving gender discrimination. Seriously.
Your milage may vary, but in general - Prison Guard is horrible
job. The pay sucks, as do the benefits.
Good. Anybody who says "You know what job I'd like to have?
Overseeing human beings locked in cages!" deserves to be miserable.
Same holds true for someone who takes that job because they have no
other skills.
Rhywun|7.26.07 @ 1:50PM|#
Prison Guard is horrible job
As one of the few growth industries in upstate New York, I've heard
that it's not so bad and the pay is pretty good. Admittedly, it was
clear that it was slowly turning my friend's friend into a racist
prick, but hey....
Juanita|7.26.07 @ 1:58PM|#
They get all worked up about this guy jackin' it but nary a peep
about prison rape?
Because rape is an essential part of the punishment experience of
prison. Don't like it, obey the laws.
|7.26.07 @ 2:20PM|#
Then there was the set of experiments where college students
were separated into prison guards with complete autonomy, and
prisoners with no rights. The guards got pretty atavistic pretty
fast.
It's too dangerous to have full-time correctional officers. The
temptation is too great. Providing muscle for the prison
administration should be carried out by state police who pull
two-week shifts at the prison a couple times a year.
|7.26.07 @ 2:33PM|#
"I would have gotten him off.
Denny Crane."
After that, would you have tried to get him released from prison?
Or would you have been charged as an accessory to 'batin?
|7.26.07 @ 3:00PM|#
"invoke Hayek's knowledge problem here, where Reason and its
readers are claiming to know more about this situation than either
the officer involved in it or the jury who heard the entire trial.
You don't know the whole story. If we can't trust a jury verdict of
our peers, then by what other standard?" - Everyone
I call BS. Juries often, and intentionally, know less than we do.
But we must keep it that way in the name of justice. Juries can't
be trusted to know the whole story or the history of the people
involved. This is as important to the concept of justice as
ensuring nobody is allowed to make audio or video recordings of any
phone call or police encounter. True guilt or innocence is about
lawyers, process, public relations, career standing, etc.
|7.26.07 @ 3:10PM|#
It's too dangerous to have full-time correctional officers.
The temptation is too great. Providing muscle for the prison
administration should be carried out by state police who pull
two-week shifts at the prison a couple times a year.
That's a great idea, but I can think of two unions that would never
go for it.
lunchstealer|7.26.07 @ 3:19PM|#
Sorry, my previous statement about video surveilance was
incorrect. The officer was in a glassed-in control room over 100ft
away, but was not watching on CCTV.
In any event, my feelings on the matter are along the lines of
peeping tom law. If I stand in my window and jack it in full view
of the sidewalk, that's indecent exposure. If I'm sitting on my bed
while 'batin, and somebody looks in the window, they're invading my
privacy. They have some legal obligation to respect my privacy,
even if they can see in.
The prisoners make no attempt to hide the fact that they're
dropping a deuce when they're on the toilet in equally plain sight
to the control room. Because they're not afforded privacy for
security reasons.
Her comments say that he was not trying to hide it, but she does
not imply that he was intentionally calling attention to it or
trying to make sure that she saw. So I'm more of the opinion that
this is a bad precedent, and that barring some overt act to force
her to see it, 'failure to hide your shame' when you're locked in a
cell in full view of a mixed gender security force shouldn't
constitute indecency. If they are not afforded privacy, then they
must be granted the legal illusion of privacy.
ellipsis|7.26.07 @ 3:22PM|#
I wonder if the people in charge here have fully contemplated
the unintended consequences of this case. If prisoners realize they
get a free two week break going to court in exchange for an extra
60 days in the clink, almost all will take up the offer. And it
would bog down the legal system like no other situation
could.
Are they they prepared for the coming bate-in?
Scooby|7.26.07 @ 3:27PM|#
The 'bater is already in for 10 years. How much did it cost to
prosecute this case? Was it worth it to add 1 1/2% (60 days) to his
sentence?
Aren't there petty non-violent drug offenders they could be using
the court resources on?
|7.26.07 @ 4:15PM|#
When I was in prison, my neighbor got hauled off to "the hole" for 30 days because a cute little n00b of a fem guard caught him jerkin' off. However, no additional charges were filed. It all went through the prison's kangaroo court.
|7.27.07 @ 4:04AM|#
Look, prisons are horrible places. All sorts of depredations
happen in there--awful food, institutionalized violence, rape,
isolation--but when we as a society ban beating off in prison we've
finally crossed the line into abject totalitarianism. What the fuck
ELSE are you supposed to do in there?
That is the nature of power, Winston.
Imagine a boot, stomping a man's face every time he tries to 'bate
... forever.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245