MemeMachineGo!

Here’s a revolting article about conditions in and around a California women’s prison.

Many inmate privileges, and basic human rights, have been taken away since Dee went in. In late 2003, Valley State Prison began allowing male guards to do pat-down searches of clothed female inmates that include touching their breasts and crotches, a practice that had been banned at the facility since 1998 after documentation surfaced of complaints about groping and outright sexual abuse by guards during intrusive “cross-gender pat searches” (as they’re called in a state prison training video). […]

The women at Valley State Prison have virtually no privacy. Male and female guards can observe them at all times — as they’re dressing, going to the bathroom — and sometimes male guards walk in on inmates being strip searched in the reception area. Searches are frequent, from post-meal pat downs to strip and full-body searches after leaving the visit room. Male officers are allowed to assist in cell extractions, where women are forcibly removed from their rooms, and these often involve strip searches conducted or witnessed by the men. In researching this article, I discovered that Rule 53 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners states, “Women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women officers.”

Fortunately, it’s not like anyone could ever expect a prison guard might be abusive.

(Via Metafilter)