this rare moment of bipartisanship was born out of tragedy. In 1996, a 17 year-old prisoner named Rodney Hulin Jr. had torn up his bed sheet, tied it above the door of his cell in the Clemens Unit in Brazoria County, Texas, and jumped down from the top bunk of his bed. When correctional officers cut him down, Hulin was comatose, and he died four months later.MORE: A reader turned me on to this 6.5 minute video, "No Escape: Prison Rape in America - The Rodney Hulin Story."
Hulin had been raped, beaten, and forced to perform oral sex within three days of his arrival at the unit. He asked to be placed in protective custody and was turned down. After his suicide, a picture of his small shoulders and thin face circulated on major news networks and Hulin became a symbol of two related phenomena. One was the prevalence of new laws that allowed youth to be sent to adult prisons, rather than juvenile facilities, for non-violent crimes (Hulin had committed second-degree arson, resulting in less than $500 of property damage). The other was prison rape.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Recalling Texan origins of the Prison Rape Elimination Act
Our pal Maurice Chammah has a feature in The Atlantic on prison rape, which includes this notable reminder about the Texan origins of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which passed Congress unanimously in 2003 and was signed by President George W. Bush:
never could see suicide myself. If your pissing me off enough I am thinking of killing someone trust me YOUR going first. in this case that would mean the other prisoners and the criminal guards who ignored him would die first.
ReplyDeleteI understand pain, grief, and humiliation. I understand feeling hopeless and powerless. While I would like to think I would never opt for suicide, I do not think I could ever judge someone else for the choices made when they feel hopeless and abandoned. I hope this man's death is something that encourages others to fight or if they cannot, to make their pain known and to force the system to take notice and responsibility. Not all of us are so strong that we can prevail when all seems to be against us. We can force others to take notice. And maybe that action will save someone else's life.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, the Senate Corrections committee is working hard to ensure that the Raise the Age movement doesn't pass under any circumstances because moving young men/women into the juvenile system will cost too much money. Never mind that they are human beings and their lives matter. Never mind that the system is responsible both for public safety AND rehabilitation. Rehabilitation cannot take place in vile, unsafe environment. So Whitmire works to continue to blow up the entire juvenile system in Texas to ensure that there is no place for these young people to go other than the adult system.
ReplyDelete@9:35, whether you disagree with Whitmire or anybody else on raise the age, I'd argue that depopulating youth prisons was hardly "blowing up the entire juvenile system." Hell, they arguably may have SAVED it.
ReplyDeleteDon't villainize folks who disagree with you or assume bad intentions. I can pretty much guarantee you Whitmire thinks he's doing the right thing on this. And you won't convince him otherwise by attributing bad faith and writing him off.
This is a little off topic but since the subject of "de-populating" youth prisons was raised - I think a big part of the problem in both the adult and criminal systems is the overall lack of quality mental health treatment, both inside facilities and in the community. I'm recalling the case a few years back when a kid stabbed a teacher in Tyler. I don't recall the specifics but I'm betting that kid had some serious mental health issues and should have been locked up somewhere. However, locking up people with serious mental illnesses without providing adequate treatment is not the right way to go. We have many, many adults in prison who are there primarily because they have a serious mental illness and they are not receiving adequate treatment. If we were to provide better treatment, many could be safely released. However, we also have to provide that treatment in the community. The state of Texas does not provide anywhere close to decent mental health treatment in its facilities or at the community level. Yet, Brad Livingston recently told a whopper to the legislature about how mental healt treatment in Texas prisons is the envy of other states. As long as people like that are allowed to remain in power, Texans should hang their heads in shame.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a long article about Rodney Hulin for the Houston Press in 1997.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.houstonpress.com/1997-08-07/news/what-really-happened-to-rodeny-hulin/
History being allowed to repeat itself as it shines a light on the bible belt's past, present & future. It was wrong then because it was wrong and everyone knew it. Everyone.
ReplyDeleteI was a guest of honor in Texas way before Hulin's skinny ass was thrown to the dogs. The first thing I noticed was the 5' 1'' people in dorms with 6' 14" giants. When one of the lil dudes asked the guard to get him out of there because he couldn't take it anymore, he was laughed at. After he attended ShankMaking 101, he shanked the shit out of his rapist that very night. He got moved to PC across the hall where there was more of the same, except for the homosexuals that looked like women. He ended up shanking a couple of them and got transferred to a gladiator unit where he killed a guard.
The problem did not go away with the victim due to it being a game that the units are allowed to play. Resulting in the convicts deciding to guard themselves in shifts. Now you know why some joined gangs while others took care of bidness on their own, as the weakest considered taking the easy way out.
Thank god for Bic Razors, shards of glass, broom handles, mop handles and mop squeeze buckets (the metal ones). Thank the inmates in the county for teaching ShankMaking 101 to those of us that landed on the Chain. Btw, you don't get in trouble for protecting yourself, you get laughed at for what they (guards) consider being a pussy. So (men & women) defend yourself and the weakest at all cost and throw in pissing on his / her head as they roll around in a puddle of blood, the Lt. & Capt. will buy you a burger before moving you across the hall with his / her winnings.
Michael Berryhill said...
ReplyDeleteI wrote a long article about Rodney Hulin for the Houston Press in 1997.
Does your article contain the names of the rapist(s) and the guard?
He gave you the link, 11:54, see for yourself!
ReplyDelete