prison

In what might be the WTF-iest story in the history of WTF, a woman in Texas is suing the state for wrongly imprisoning her for a month, during which time she was subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of guards and other prisoners. What was her crime? Being a rape victim who suffered a mental collapse while testifying.

It’s like the writers and producers sat around and said, “Let’s put all the most f*cked up recent cultural references in one season and be the most forward, innovative, social justice show out there!” It’s literally the exploitation and voyeurism of our pain on a platter for the world to gawk at and consume.

Much has already been said about the way the Stanford swimmer's privilege has insulated him from consequence, about the ever-pervasive victim blaming in public discourse, and about the inadequacy of the criminal justice system. But in so many of these conversations, in our rage against the rape culture machine, we forget the survivors — the most important people in the fight against sexual violence.

Until recently, I had not experienced any adverse issues at the halfway house. I know a few other women that received write-ups for minor things, like talking to the men or getting off the bus at the wrong set. I heard from others about verbal warnings for the same things.

I was too young then to wear a wire, and the DA, a scary albino man, had me point to an ugly plain doll and tell him what happened.

The war on drugs has turned into the war on sex. Prostitution was a part of Alaska before it became a state. Independent minded women came during the gold rush to acquire their share of riches.

Now I wake up every morning in a jail cell. I make my instant coffee and get ready for work. I press on toward the day I can go home and be with my kids. I don’t know when that will be.

I wondered what the difference in treatment would be between a white man accused of assaulting an Alaska Native woman and that same Alaska Native woman accused of nonviolent criminal mischief.