"Prisoner in Smith & Wesson Model 1850 transport restraint chains" by Rainerzufall1234 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

When I first came into the prison system in the early 1990s, there was no such thing as personal privacy or body autonomy. Our dignity and humanity went out the window. The first thing you did was strip nude in front of god and everybody, spread your ass cheeks, squat, and cough. It was routine to be told by a jailer or a prison guard to lift up your nut sack and the bottom of your feet as they searched you for contraband. It was one of the most humiliating experiences I have ever had in my life. If I went around doing this to people, I'd be convicted of serious sex offenses but the state has carte blanche.

In the 1990s prison guards could feel or caress your body for any reason and simply call it a search. They could tell you to strip down to your boxers or strip nude and you could get a write up if you disobeyed. You had no human will of your own, no opportunity to not consent. Our bodies are property of the state, and being able to refuse was not an option. Force was permissible, and resistance only served to increase the level of violence enacted upon you. Guards could grab and squeeze your breast, buttocks, and crotch. This highly intrusive conduct is a sexual assault in the larger society but is considered the norm in prison.

Sexual assault happens often in prison. Any sexual encounter is always classified as an assault even when its consensual. California penal code section 289.6 prohibits inmates, prison volunteers, contractors, and employees from engaging in any type of sexual activity. Yet condom dispensers sit in common areas of the prison, so people who choose to break the law can practice safe sex. A lot of men have sex with each other in prison and so do women. Everyone knows it’s happening but it’s difficult to police. Guards become uncomfortable. But some will sometimes pull people from cells who are obviously engaged in sexual activity. They are written up for violating the rules. No signs hang from any wall in prison saying practice safe sex. But HIV, aids, hepatitis, and other diseases are rampant. Condoms are the warning. A phone number is posted for you to call if raped by a guard or prisoner. It's a PREA hotline.

One Friday in December of 2021, I was called to a correctional lieutenant’s office for a PREA interview. PREA is an acronym used to describe the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, a law implemented in 2003. It requires that federal, state, and local correctional facilities maintain and enforce a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual assault for both inmates on inmate and staff on inmate sexual contact. The lieutenant asked me if I have ever been raped, or if I've raped someone else while in prison. He asked me if I felt like a victim or if I had a fear of being raped. He then asked me if I identified as male or female.

Sex is illegal in prison. The state controls our bodies, and at the same time, our sexuality is closely monitored. There are only two options for sex available to incarcerated people-masturbation or infrequent family visits with your spouse-which few people have access to. Masturbation is hard to police, but they do, getting caught in the act comes with a write up that can be used against you when attempting to parole. They'd outlaw it altogether if they could, because it's one of a few pleasures an incarcerated person can steal while in this hell. Ironically, they have condom dispensers bolted on walls throughout the prison full of brightly colored condoms. But sex is technically illegal. Two men can engage in consensual sexual activity while incarcerated, and they do all the time, but in the eyes of the law, they are raping each other.

"Why are the Incarcerated Treated Non-Consensually?" by Susan Rahman with Nathan Bowman, Dahmitra Jackson, Anna Lushtak, Remi Newman, & Prateek Sunder is licensed under CC BY 4.0