Special report: Hostages to justice, page 1

This is truly sickening and it's happening right here in America...

For years, rights groups warned that male guards were sexually assaulting female inmates in Michigan prisons. For years, those warnings went unheeded. Now, state taxpayers may pay a price too. More than 500 women are suing. They stand to collect $50 million so far, with more trials to come. This is their story.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source: Sexual assaults on female inmates went unheeded

This human rights abuse is happening now, and this is being swept under the rug. I wanted everyone to know what is happening here in Michigan women's prisons. Yes they are convicted felons, yes they have committed crimes, but this constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. This is torture to the extreme. This is horror to the women that face jail time here in Michigan, the problem is probably even more widespread than reported here. It's probably happening everywhere in America.

Last January, one day before her civil lawsuit went to trial, Toni Bunton sat on the top bunk in her prison cell at Scott Correctional Facility, a place she had lived almost half her life.

The place where she said she was raped, over and over, by prison guards.

She cried and prayed and wrestled with old doubts that swirled through her head.

Should she stand up in court and tell the world what happened to her? Should she risk her freedom at a time when she was seeking to have her 25- to 50-year sentence commuted? Or should she keep her mouth shut, once more, and hope that her silence was the key to getting out?

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source: Stakes were high as prisoners' rape trial finally began

Oh this gets much worse my friends...

Toni Bunton sat in the witness chair with her arms folded across her chest. She wore black pants and a lavender V-neck sweater over a white turtleneck. Her hair was parted down the middle and fell down her back. After 16 years in prison, she had learned to cut her own hair by looking in a mirror.

It was the third week of January last year, in a courtroom in Ann Arbor. Bunton was the first of 10 prisoners to testify in a civil lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections. They were among more than 500 female prisoners who said they were repeatedly raped and molested by male guards.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source:Female inmate described rapes in lawsuit against state

Some hope for these women does bear fruit however as the jury renders it's verdict...

The courtroom door swung open. The trial was over. A jury of four men and six women had reached a verdict in the lawsuit by 10 female inmates who claimed Michigan prison officials did nothing to prevent rapes and assaults by male guards.

"All rise!" the bailiff said loudly.

On the other side of the courtroom, behind a row of lawyers, inmate Toni Bunton clutched her chest.

Her stomach churned. Would the jury believe her testimony that she was raped eight times and groped on a daily basis by the men who guarded her at Scott Correctional Facility? Would anyone care?

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source:Jury awarded $15.4 million to inmates

But what of the guards? What happens to these monsters that prey on these women?

Though 10 women testified last January that they were sexually abused and, in some cases, raped in the 1990s by guards at Scott Correctional Facility, the Michigan Attorney General's Office says it has no plans currently to investigate the men.

Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for the Attorney General, said Wednesday the women's testimony is not enough. The women, many of them still incarcerated, must come forward and register a criminal complaint.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source: Attorney general not investigating guards

Nothing? Women are rotting in prison being raped repeatedly by these monsters and nothing is going to happen? This is what's wrong with this whole story people. These women have had a crime committed against them. They have been assaulted. Yes they may be convicts. But they shouldn't have to endure this sort of atrocity in our corrections system.

For one however, the nightmare is over...

On just another day in July, Toni Bunton was walking down the hall at Scott Correctional Facility when she was stopped.

"Oh, there you are," Warden Heidi Washington said to the prisoner. "Come with me."

Bunton was confused and worried. She followed Washington and two deputy wardens, as she was instructed.

"Did something happen?" Bunton thought. "Did I do something wrong?"

They went into a counselor's office, and the door closed.

"Gov. Jennifer Granholm," the warden said, "signed your commutation yesterday."

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Source:After 16 years, Toni Bunton's sentence is commuted

She got out, her personal nightmare is over. But what of the other estimated 500+ female inmates in Michigan's corrections facilities? If they don't come forward, they won't receive justice, this won't stop unless people know, this nightmare won't end for these women unless a huge outcry by the international community is heard.

This is the kind of story your not going to hear on national news, this isn't the kind of story your going to see on news stations in your home town at night. This is a conspiracy, this is a silent happening now to women across this country, women yes who have committed and were convicted of crimes but women who nonetheless deserve to serve their time knowing at least the guards wouldnt do these things. Now these women not only face guards who aren't going to be punished, they may also fear reprisal for testifying against these guards.

Unless the Attorney General of the state of Michigan does something about this and comes down hard on these monsters that were supposed to help keep order and protect these women from each other. These atrocities, these human rights abuse crimes will continue.

On a grander scale, if this had happened in another country, like China, the international community would be up in arms about this horror. In America, this sort of horror is barely reported. This sort of terror is swept under the rug.

Thankfully the Detroit Free Press writer Jeff Seidel wasn't afraid to tell the world he had access to about this horror, he wasn't afraid to expose these women's personal hell to the world.

When a person is incarcerated in this country, convicted of a crime, It is expected that they will do hard time, yes it's not supposed to be fun in prison. Prison is not however supposed to be a place where those that are supposed to keep the peace and guard the inmates against themselves are allowed to themselves commit crimes against these inmates.

here's the link for some video testimony from Toni Bunton...

gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net... laylistId=playlist&maven_referralObject=982858318

[edit on 1/8/2009 by whatukno]