CA Bills Target Inmate Rape, Condoms[views:3057][posts:3]_____________________________________ [Apr 26,2005 2:24pm - RustedAngel ""] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../2005/04/19/national/a213842D12.DTL By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer (04-19) 21:38 PDT Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- Inmates would be given condoms and corrections officials would be required to make preventing prison rapes a priority under two bills that advanced in the state Assembly Tuesday. One of the bills, which passed out of the Public Safety Committee 4-2, would allow nonprofit groups and health agencies to distribute condoms and other bodily fluid barriers in California prisons. The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, said various studies put the incidence of homosexual activity in prisons at between 30 percent and 60 percent of male inmates, while HIV infection is at least five times that of the outside population. The state spends $18 million annually treating HIV and AIDS in prison, Koretz said. "It's unrealistic to think we have the ability to completely eliminate sex in prison," he said. Benjamin Lopez of The Traditional Values Coalition argued the bill would tacitly encourage sexual relations that, even if consensual, are illegal behind prison walls. Providing condoms to inmates would be similar to giving inmates clean needles to use contraband drugs, he said. The second bill, which was advanced by the committee on a 5-1 vote, would require the Department of Corrections to take efforts to prevent prison rape. Lara Stemple, executive director of the Los Angeles-based organization Stop Prison Rape, said one in every five male inmates is pressured or forced into sex, and one in 10 is forcibly raped in prison. "It's gone largely unreported," said the bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg. "This is a human rights issue that is often clouded by judgment and bias." The condom bill goes next to the Appropriations Committee. Both bills must be passed by the full House before going to the Senate. |
| _______________________________ [Apr 26,2005 2:26pm - timma ""] oh good. so the rare portion of inmates that don't want some poop chute can either put them over their head and suffocate, put them over their head and blow them up with their nose, and/or strangle someone via condom death. thats nice. |
| _______________________________ [Apr 26,2005 2:31pm - timma ""] maybe even some condon balloon animals going on.... |
| ________________________________________ [Apr 26,2005 2:34pm - destroyyoualot ""] "I prefer syrup." |