Sex: The prison system’s dirty little secret

When the word sex is mentioned, there are myriad things that can be associated with it.

Lust. Desire. Love. Procreation.

Sex has always been a very important part of life. Some need it. Others want it. It’s an inescapable conversation that transcends gender, cultures and race.

But what’s going on in the prison systems in Delaware, and across the country, is more about power than sex.

When Major Fred Way III, Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution third in command, was arrested for having sex with a female inmate, the conversation about sex in prison was thrust into the spotlight.

It was a gruesome reminder that everything we see on “Orange is the New Black,” is actually real. It was yet another example of art imitating life.

Sunday’s investigation by The News Journal places a magnifying lens on an issue most don’t like to discuss: the abuse of power that leads to sex in prison.

Guards force themselves on women. Inmates use sex as a bargaining chip. And somewhere in the middle, it’s become the norm. Just another spoke in the perpetual wheel of problems inside the American prison system.

Prison is supposed to be a place where the “bad guys” go. All of your freedoms are stripped from you. You’re told when to shower, exercise and eat. All the things that you used to do whenever you wanted, are now regulated to a schedule. Personal space and privacy are a thing of the past.

Sex becomes a distant memory.

However, that’s not the case in Delaware. A 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics study at Baylor discovered that the rate in which staff and inmates engaged in sexual acts was more than three times above the national average. No place is safe inside a prison, and that includes closets.

“There is a ton of coercive power that an individual can exert without proper supervision,” said Christopher Daley of Just Detention International, a group that focuses on sexual abuse in prisons. “When that power is largely unchecked, that puts inmates in an incredibly vulnerable situation. Sexual misconduct also degrades the security in a prison. If they are able to abuse inmates, they are likely to bring in contraband. If you are sexually abusing someone you are not doing your job, which is security.”

To correct any wrong, or to change a system, you have to attack the issue at its core. And in this case, it starts with the people who work in prisons. Prisoners are in jail because of some crime they’ve committed. But anarchy can ensue when the people who have been charged to protect, are preying.

There is plenty of blame to go around in this case, but much of it lies with the men and women who aren’t wearing orange jumpsuits.

Sex isn’t the issue here. The people in charge are.