Sexual Harassment Was Not Part of My Sentence

 The very nature of prison is that there is an imbalance of power. Prisoners are stripped of power when they are sent to prison. They are under the authority of prison administrators and corrections officers. They must follow rules, and they must operate within the the boundaries of behaviors that are approved by these authorities. 

Of course, within the prisoner population also, power is used (and abused) by prisoners who impose their will over other prisoners. Often, this abuse of power is ignored, and sometimes even tacitly sanctioned, by prison officials. But prisoners aren't the only ones who abuse their power. Corrections officers, like anyone endowed with the type of power they have over other humans, routinely abuse their power. 

A recent example: In the housing unit where I live, at Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan, cleaning supplies are kept in the officers' office. Prisoners must leave their ID cards when they "check out" supplies to clean their cells. On a recent day, I asked permission to check out cleaning supplies and was told I could. 

As I left my ID on the desk and gathered a broom, dustpan, and cleaning spray, one of the officers asked me a rather odd, but seemingly harmless, question. When I replied to his question, he laughed and made a grossly inappropriate sexual joke out of my answer. His "joke" was not only inappropriate on the surface, but since he is in a position of power over me, it was an abuse of power. 

Now, prisoners in these sorts of situations are faced with multiple options. They can play along with the joke, yucking it up with those who hold power over them. (Some do this.) They could cuss the guard out and leave it at that. (Some do this.) They could threaten to write the guard up, or actually write the guard up for abusing his authority and for conduct unbecoming. After all, this behavior is against their rules of professional conduct. (And some do this, usually with no consequence for the offending officer.) 

But, each of these prisoner responses have consequences. Those who join in on the frivolity give officers approval to abuse their authority. They mistakenly think that by joining in the fun, the officer will give them preferential treatment. I've been in prison long enough to know that's not likely, nor is it preferred. Those who cuss the guard out or threaten to write the guard up put a giant target on their backs. They essentially invite the officers to further abuse their authority by conducting excessive shakedowns and writing frivolous misconduct tickets. 

All of these responses place prisoners in impossible situations. That's why conduct like this officer's is an abuse of power. They ought to treat us prisoners with dignity, but they are not our friends. Their job is to ensure the safety and security of a prison institution, not to sexually (or otherwise) harass their charges. 

Though I did not choose any of these options, I don't know if my response was necessarily any better. While I would have liked to call out the officer's abuse of power and inappropriate conduct, I also do not want unnecessary attention from the officers. I just want to do the best I can with my circumstances and leave prison a better person than I came in. So, I reverted to a passive aggressive response that was neither particularly threatening to the officer nor conveyed approval of his conduct. 

"That's what you're on today?" I responded. "Yeah, I'm just trying to have some fun today," he replied, laughing. "Well, it's good to have fun I guess, and if you need to revisit your middle school years to do that, you've gotta do what you've gotta do." My voice dripping with sarcasm, I turned and left the office with the cleaning supplies. 

Keeping my cell clean should not be this difficult. I shouldn't have to expose myself to sexual harassment just for doing the right thing (keeping my cell clean). Actually, even if I was doing the wrong thing, I shouldn't be subject to sexual harassment by a person in a position of power. But it happens in prison, and with far more frequency than one might think.