The Peculiar Institution

EconLog takes a look at the economics of prison rape. Warning the concepts discussed here are not for the faint of heart: Incentives Matter: Prison Rape Edition

The most notorious form of prison abuse, of course, is rape. How severe is this risk? According to the recently released National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Report, it's pretty severe, almost 5% per year:

BJS conducted the first wave of surveys in 2007 in a random sample of 146 State and Federal prisons and 282 local jails. A total of 63,817 incarcerated individuals completed surveys, providing the most comprehensive snapshot of sexual abuse in prisons and jails to date. Four-and-a-half percent of prisoners surveyed reported experiencing sexual abuse one or more times during the 12 months preceding the survey or over their term of incarceration if they had been confined in that facility for less than 12 months. Extrapolated to the national prison population, an estimated 60,500 State and Federal prisoners were sexually abused during that 12-month period.

You might think that rape is an inevitable feature of communities of convicts. But rates vary widely - too widely, I think, for inmate composition to explain:

Although sexual abuse of prisoners is widespread, rates vary across facilities. For example, 10 facilities had comparatively high rates, between 9.3 and 15.7 percent, whereas in six of the facilities no one reported abuse during that time period. [emphasis mine]

The linked article goes on to note that rape, and other abuses, are disproportionately suffered by the weak, the small, and the mentally ill. More important, rape is not an inevitable part of prison life. As EconLog notes, some facilities have high rates, while others experience no reports at all. The article also claims that privately run facilities have very low rates, as the operators have an economic incentive to keep their charges safe during their incarceration. No doubt minimum security jails have lower rates, as do "solitary" facilities like Pelican Bay and San Quentin's Death Row. Is anyone out there expecting Scott Peterson or Bernie Madoff to get raped?

The most peculiar aspect of prison rape is how much it is treated as part of the "punishment" regime. How many times have we heard a prosecutor or AG make jokes about a prominent defendant "meeting" Bubba? Most ridiculous are liberal pols like Bill Collyer (ex-AG for California), who made just such a "joke" about Ken Lay. Liberals are forever passing Hate Crime laws, marching in "Take Back The Night" rallies, railing about prisoner abuse by cops and prison guards, and denouncing the fumbling of college co-eds as "date rape." But, when there is a literal culture of rape in a government run institution in which the weak are preyed on by the strong and there is often a strong element of racial antagonism, suddenly everyone launches into their David Letterman act. It's strange. Perhaps "Rape Panels" are also part of progressive health care reform.

I realize that this is not an issue that will light up the phone lines. It is surprising that so many self-styled progressives who claim to be concerned for the rights of criminal defendants are eager to visit such a grotesque form of "punishment" on certain prisoners.