These are American women. They are not sex objects. They are not bad girls. They are women with minds that can be reasoned with and deserve respect when they report sexual assault and abuse at the hand of correction officers. If a woman incarcerated complains of sexual abuse or assault and there is any chance there was forced intercourse, the rape kits are completed while the correctional officer is given paid time off.
Women in prison practice their beliefs just as anyone else does. There are innumberable reasons why women find themselves in prison, that doesn't mean they have given up the belief in God or any other practice they have to cope with life.
A woman leaving jail or prison should be proud of herself for sustaining the time and planning to be a better citizen with opportunity to renew that belief everyday.
Family members need respect as well. If family brings complaints they should be taken seriously and acted on. Not every complaint will be correct, valid or measurable, but, they should be taken seriously. There is nothing more powerful to end complaints than to act on them. If inmates are to be lawful, the people surrounding their incarceration should be lawful.
By Mike Carter
Everyone, even her mother, thought 23-year-old Kimberly Bender would be safe in the Forks City Jail, away and protected from the drugs and past abuse that haunted her and fed her depression.
It turned out that everyone was wrong.
Bender, a single mother and member of the Quileute Tribe, died by suicide in her jail cell in December 2019, apparently after enduring weeks of torment and abuse at the hands of a corrections officer with an extensive history of abusive behavior, racism and sexual abuse aimed at men and women behind bars and co-workers alike.
Police and hospital records note that Bender complained, saying she was afraid to even go to the bathroom while the guard was working, and that he’d come into her cell at night to whisper lewd comments.
Investigators who interviewed Bender believed her story, but the Forks police chief and jail officials said they were “unable to substantiate” her allegations even as they terminated the guard, John Russell Gray. He then returned to a job as a correctional officer for the state Department of Corrections....
