Gay real prison
I thought I was too old to have to stress about being raped in prison. But as his sweat dripped onto the back of my neck, the weight of his body holding the blanket that pinned my arms, I thought: Am I dreaming? No, this was real pain; actual smells; real sensations.
In my 27 years of incarceration I&#;ve been in nine different prisons, and at eight of them queer and trans prisoners weren&#;t empowered by any kind of back system, even informally. We&#;re preyed upon by the gangs, and we&#;re preyed upon by the staff. Power respects power, and we had none.
This changed after I came to South Central Correctional Facility (SCCF), a private medium-security prison in Tennessee. SCCF is the birthplace of Be the Change (BTC)—the first, and we believe only, openly LGBTQ community in any of the state&#;s 14 prisons.
&#;They were just [isolating] people in &#;gay or trans&#; cells that did not want to be there.&#;
Tavaria Merritt is 12 years into a year sentence at SCCF. She was 18 when she went into the prison system, and had not yet come out as gay or trans.
&#;In [Black] culture
Former prisoners share their experiences of sex in prison
The Commission on Sex in Prison’s final inform , published today (Tuesday 17 March), features accounts from former prisoners speaking for the first period about their experiences of sex behind bars.
Sex in prison: Experiences of former prisoners is the fifth and closing briefing paper published by the Commission, which was established by the Howard League for Penal Reform and includes eminent academics, former prison governors and health experts.
Recommendations from the Commission’s two-year inquiry will be presented today (Tuesday 17 March) at a conference in London.
The Commission sought permission to interview current prisoners about their experiences of sex in prison, but this approach was blocked by the Ministry of Justice.
However, Dr Alisa Stevens, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Southampton, was able to interview 26 former prisoners during the summer of – 24 men and two women.
Her inform concludes that a national survey of both the serving prison population and former prisoners, fully supported b
When I first came to prison, I didn’t know how I should perform. I was a gay man, convicted of a sex crime. We’ve all heard the horror stories. But I had one thing going for me: I was enormous, weighing in at pounds, a just amount of which was muscle. For the most part, other inmates left me alone.
That is, until the other gays and trans found out about me. At the time, one of the gangs, which called themselves the Aryan Knights, used “beating up fags and chomos (child molesters)” as an initiation for recent members. Like I said, they adorable much avoided me—preferring to go after the smaller and weaker. But that meant that a number of gay men and transgender women suddenly wanted to be my boyfriend (or girlfriend), not because they liked me in that way, but because they figured I’d protect them.
For a while, I went along with it. At one point I was the “boyfriend” of six different people at the identical time. But I tired of being used, and wanted real companionship, so I eventually started hanging out with just one sweet little guy who seemed to hold genuine affection for me. I was devastated wh
This article was published in collaboration with Vice.
“Hey slut!” he yelled at me, laughing with his friend. “What? You know you’re a slut!”
I stopped and turned to tackle the two corrections officers who were pointing at me. I smiled and waved before proceeding to walk into the dining hall.
I put up with this type of behavior from the Michigan Department of Corrections staff constantly. It’s something I expected from other prisoners, but the harassment from the officers is actually much more severe.
In the past, I might have reacted in anger, but that’s exactly what they’re looking for. Outbursts will only destroy my chance of getting parole.
Back when I was locked in a double-bunk cell in level-four security at Chippewa Correctional Facility, a young gang member moved in with me. When he entered the room, he informed me that the officers had said to him, “Your bunkie’s a freak! He’s down for whatever!” They had laughed at him in front of the other inmates.
So he told me, “I’m not locking with no fag. You have to tell them to move ya or I’m going to beat your ass.”
When t