Sexual Harassment of or Sexual Contact
with Inmates, came out like a shot.
Beard and company got
their juicy grant.
On its own, Pennsylvania had belatedly enacted a law making
it a crime for the staff to sexually assault a prisoner.
In real
life, the imprisonment system never enforced the law.
On the
frequent occurrences when a guard or other member of the staff
was caught in flagrante delicto, as they say, that is,
having sex with a prisoner, the victim was severally punished.
The staff rapist was scolded or sometimes fired, never prosecuted.
After all, the victim was only a prisoner.
When a bully guard or member of the staff sexually harassed
a prisoner (and a lot of that goes on) the prison administration
and other guards just joined in.
The victim was usually tossed
into the hole if he or she whined.
Doctor Beard's Department of Imprisonment wasn't much
interested in enforcing the Pennsylvania law which protected
prisoners from the predatory staff.
They were interested in the
money-rich terms of the federal law.
Jeffrey Beard promptly issued
Policy DC-ADM 008.
The interesting thing about the regulation
is the slant of its focus.
Instead of focusing on the common
practice of staff abuse of the prisoners, Beard's policy focuses
almost exclusively on punishing and prosecuting prisoners.
Instead
of protecting the prisoners from the staff's rampant sexual
harassment, Beard's directive focuses on criminalizing the speech
between prisoners.
It urges prisoners to "report to a staff
member" (sure, that's safe).
The policy pretends that the victim
will be tossed into the hole, only "if he/she cannot be protected
by any other means."
This directive is pretty typical of Doctor Beard's management
of his department: protect the guards, punish the prisoners, but
pretend it's fair.
Above all, keep the truth a secret.