Constable: Even in prison, rape is no joke

No matter how you became aware of it - from friends on Facebook, strangers on Twitter or even the New York Post newspaper - the comment in question remains nothing more than a rape joke.

The punch line is that Jared Fogle, the formerly obese man who made a living as the unassuming pitchman for Subway, will be sexually assaulted in prison after he begins serving his sentence for his own sex crimes involving children.

In its huge front-page headline, the New York Post twittered a crass play on words related to Subway sandwiches next to a photo of Fogel.

Perhaps the newspaper will win some humanitarian award by not mirroring the many postings on social media that included photos of threatening-looking black inmates, which apparently ups the funny for folks who like their rape jokes with a side of racism.

"It is, unfortunately, all too common a popular reference both inside and outside of correction facilities," says Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, the Chicago-based prison-reform agency that was a 2015 recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. "It is not a joking matter."

For decades, society has tolerated (and even enjoyed) jokes about prison rape.

"Such jokes trivialize a horrific and widespread crime, while also sending the dangerous message that rape behind bars is inevitable or, even worse, an acceptable punishment," says Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, communications director for Just Detention International, a health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse in detention. "The good news is that our culture is starting to shift, thanks largely to the courage of prisoner-rape survivors who have spoken out against this violence."

Here, in one Illinois prisoner's own words, is how funny prison rape is:

"As I started to shower, I noticed that a group of inmates were blocking the exit as well as the officer's view of the shower," begins the story that Kerry, a 29-year-old inmate serving time for a nonviolent offense, told Just Detention International.

"I became very nervous. The inmate next to me stepped out and exited the shower area. When I turned around to leave, James was standing in the shower area naked. I grabbed my towel to leave when a couple of inmates grabbed me and threw me on the floor. I was paralyzed by fear.

"James held me down and started to rape me while I was screaming, crying, and pleading with him to stop. He punched me in the back of the head, knocking me to the floor.

He told me the next time I screamed he would kill me," Kerry says. "When he was done, he punched me in the head, back and stomach while I was pinned on the floor, saying he was going to kill me and my family if I told anyone."

Perhaps it's just the way Kerry tells it.

But Just Detention International has collected lots of these rape stories, and none is funny.

"The Bureau of Justice Statistics - an arm of the Department of Justice - estimates that around 200,000 people are sexually abused behind bars in a single year," says Lerner-Kinglake. Not all of the attacks are from the criminals.

A U.S. Appeals Court ruled earlier this month that malicious sexual contact by guards against inmates may qualify as violations of constitutional rights.

"Sexual abuse of prisoners, once passively accepted by society, deeply offends today's standards of decency," Judge John M. Walker Jr. wrote in the unanimous opinion.

In 2003, with unanimous support from Democrats and Republicans, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which established guidelines for reporting and preventing sexual attacks in prisons.

"We're pleased that Illinois is working to come into compliance with those guidelines," Vollen-Katz says.

But it will take more than better understanding of the issues among corrections officials to stop the jokes.

"We should not be tolerating rape in prison, and we shouldn't be making jokes about it in our popular culture," President Obama said in July during a speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "That is no joke. These things are unacceptable."

The New York Post headline about Fogle resulted in a backlash from people who don't think prison rape jokes are funny.

"I hope this is part of a growing recognition that the people we incarcerate are human beings," Vollen-Katz says.

She notes that the vast majority of inmates will rejoin society, and an environment that tolerates sexual abuse hinders any rehabilitation efforts.

"It's the fodder for many jokes. But by making jokes about it, we minimize the harm," Vollen-Katz says. "Until we all understand that it is not a joking matter, it's an uphill battle."