Posts Tagged ‘criminal justice’

Female Inmates Are Not Women, But Male Inmates Are

Posted: June 26, 2022 in criminal justice
Tags: , , ,

Men are women but real women are being forced to give up our rights for single-sex space.



I remember, many many years ago, reading a quote from Barbra Streisand that said something along the lines of her greatest fear was being injured, laying there in the street, and people standing around and taking pictures and telling each other it was Barbara Streisand and not helping her. The point being everyone would look but not help.

That’s how I feel about the women who are being forced to be incarcerated with men.

From the women being leered at, threatened, harassed, and assaulted while they sleep in their bunks or while they shower, to being groped, spit on, threatened, and raped. It’s as if society is standing around, watching this, talking about it, and then turning their backs and walking away.

I have lost so many women followers on Twitter because they were silenced for speaking out about their experiences in prison with biological males. I have a glimmer of hope with Elon Musk taking over Twitter, but that doesn’t help anyone today or even tomorrow.

I shouldn’t be surprised that these women have been silenced, but I am. Perhaps I am still naive in my belief in human rights for women, but not having them is not something I will ever get used to.

I am currently reading several stories about women inmates that have had a Form 115 written up on them. This is a discipline report that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation uses for serious rule violations. The violations consisted of misgendering a male prisoner as “he”, stating they felt uncomfortable sharing a 10×15 cell with a man, to reporting being physically or verbally assaulted.

It would be nice if the Department of Corrections used as much diligence in supporting women as they do with protecting the predators and abusers they have forced them to live with.

We are seeing the immediate effects on these women but there is also the long-term effect of dealing with past trauma and transgressions, to building a new future with hopeful optimism and a support system. A system that forces you to be housed with an abuser is a system that has already determined that you will fail and that is where they are putting their time, energy, and work towards.

Making sure women fail and are kept silent. Evil is never pleasant to see or talk about but what is being done to these women is evil.

Many of the males in women’s prisons are convicted sex offenders who know how to work the system. There are no repercussions or punishment for them abusing the women or taunting the women and it doesn’t help that the ACLU is covering their costs.


Maybe the fact that a CDCR lieutenant was one of 19 arrested in human trafficking would be a good place to start looking.

Three people were arrested for trying to contact juveniles for lewd purposes through social media and dating apps. One of those arrested was a lieutenant with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Lt. Jose Donaciano Valdez allegedly tried to meet with a 13-year-old girl at a hotel but the girl turned out to be an undercover officer. CDCR told 17 news that Valdez has been placed on administrative leave.

https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/cdcr-lieutenant-charged-in-child-sex-sting/

Let’s start by looking at the people running these facilities. Let’s put body cameras on all the staff and put everything out in the open. Let us see what is going on there 24/7 and see the truth. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

You don’t need to look too far for the people behind the attempted genocide of women. You just have to find out who benefits and it’s always the predator.

Sitting with the broken.

Posted: August 29, 2016 in jail, Uncategorized
Tags: ,

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As I continue to write my book and publish it online (check it out and follow along at: https://www.patreon.com/SusanLewis), I am struck by how natural and easy it is for me to talk to people and conversely, how difficult it is for so many other people.

Why is this?

Short of someone actually physically assaulting you, what’s the worst thing that could happen?

They insult you? So what. You’ve insulted plenty in your life.

They make fun of you? Yeah…again…so what? You’ve done that too.

They scare you? Walk away then.

They disagree with you? OH MY GOD! HOW HORRIBLE! Lock them up and throw away the key.

I remember when I was doing extensive work in the criminal justice system. One thing I needed was help and 99% of the time I’d hear “Yes, I’ll help you but don’t make me go with you in there. I’ll help with mailings or phone calls or even a few bucks, but…no…not…them.”

I’d sort of pause for a moment and look at them.

“Why? What are you afraid of? Another human being? You’re perfectly safe. In fact, you’re safer in there than out here, so what’s the problem? Looking at a student scares you?”

No one could ever really answer my question, so I began to realize it wasn’t the environment (though it is different). It was the fact that they would have to look at another person and take responsibility for them.

Holy hell, what was I thinking?

Well, I’ll tell you what I was thinking and it’s this – that it would be fun, different and I could learn and see “the other side” of things and maybe…just maybe…make a difference.

That I would get out of my comfortable and boring life and stretch my wings and abilities and DO something.
DO something. Not talk about it. I couldn’t handle another conversation about the latest TV show or how difficult someone’s life was because they couldn’t afford to take another vacation or buy the latest phone or car or whatever crap they were worried about.

So I went and now I’m writing about it. I’m remembering as much as I can and I see that on some level, I miss these women. I’m finally at the part of the book where I’m introducing some of them to my readers. I’m struggling with how to describe them so the reader feels they know them and are standing in my shoes.

What did these broken and horrible people do for me?

Well, that’s pretty much what the book is about, but in a nutshell, I can tell you that I learned as much from they as they did from me.

Last I heard, my program was pretty damn successful. 5 years after completing my stint, I heard back that not one of the them was a repeat offender. All of them got out, went back into society and behaved themselves.

The secret?

First of all, I had some great data and help to give them. You can’t get anything done without the correct tools.

Secondly, and I think the most important, is I listened to them. I did not try to change them. I sat down and heard every word they said. I did not coddle them. I did not allow them to be victims. I pointed them in a better direction and let them make their own decisions.

Thirdly, I pulled no punches. I ran a very tight ship, made the rules clear and never let anyone abuse those barriers. I even brought in a whistle to use if they stopped listening to me.

Sitting with the broken is tricky. You cannot allow yourself to get pulled into their crap, which they created, and sympathize and go along with their justifications. We are the ones who build our own traps and we’re the only ones that can unbuild them. Kind of cool and kind of sucks.

You’re the only one that can fix you but it’s almost impossible to do it alone. I tried and it almost killed me emotionally.

We all want everyone to listen and understand us, but how often do you do that for another? Huh? When was the last time you took the time to just sit and listen to someone and not judge them or tell them what they did wrong?
If you want to fix you, first go help fix someone else. Trust me, you’ll find that you’re really not that broken.

You just think you are.