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• Rape in US prisons underreported experts
  This undated photograph courtesy of the California Department of Corrections shows a holding cell at San Quentin Prison. While it is difficult to get a true picture of how often inmates suffer sexual assaults from their fellow criminals and by prison staff members, anecdotal evidence shows that the rape is an all-too common experience in the growing US prison complex. (AFP/HO/File) There is a serious problem with rape in the US prison system, experts said Thursday. While it is difficult to get a true picture of how often inmates suffer assaults from their fellow criminals and by prison staff members, anecdotal evidence shows that the rape is an all-too common experience in the growing US prison complex. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were more than 6,500 inmate allegations of sexual assault reported in 2006 to authorities. That is a rate of 2.9 claims per 1,000 prisoners, an estimate based on a sampling of prison facilities. 'There are lot of prisoner advocates who would claim that this is a vast underreporting of the problem,' said Michele Deitch, an adjunct professor of criminal justice policy at the University of Texas, who once served as a court-appointed monitor of a Texas prison reform lawsuit. 'Correction officials would argue that the vast majority of these inmate allegations are not sustained. Everyone agrees that prison rape is an issue that needs to be addressed, but not everyone agrees on the scope of the problem,' Deitch says. Congress estimates that one million inmates were sexually assaulted, during the 20 years preceding the signing of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 by President George W. Bush. But that figure is also highly debated, experts say. Authorities, scholars and independent monitors of US prisons hope that the federal law's requirement of mandatory reporting of sexual violence will soon yield more precise statistics. Experts are trying to train corrections officials around the country so there is uniform reporting of data. 'You really can't tell if the problem is worse in one state or another, or if they are just reporting incidents differently,' Deitch said. The National Commission to Eliminate Prison Rape hopes standardization of reporting will help develop standards for addressing sexual violence in prisons. The Commission is charged with developing zero-tolerance national standards for enhancing the detection, prevention, reduction and punishment of sexual violence behind bars. The panel will issue a draft report for public comment in the spring of 2008. Jack Beck, director of monitoring project for the Correctional Association of New York, testified that sexual violence in prison is being increasingly addressed due to the mandatory reporting requirements of the federal law. Beck and other experts who provided testimony to the national commission in New Orleans recommended increased outside scrutiny of prisons by grand juries, news media, prison ombudsmen, and independent monitors as well as increased accountability for how inmates are treated. The consequences of prison sexual abuse for society include more mental health problems, increased cases of HIV/AIDS, and more violence. 'If people get sexually abused while incarcerated, they come out angry and with sexually transmitted diseases,' Deitch said. 'What happens in prison, doesn't stay in prison.' Experts say the good news is that more correctional agencies have become 'professionalized' in recent years, thanks to internal accountability measures. However, Deitch said, more outside oversight is needed. 'The United States is one of the only Western nations that (lack) a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring the routine external monitoring of all correctional facilities,' she testified. Outside oversight will not solve the problem of sexual assault in prisons, but will let the public and correctional administrators know if the goal of 'safe and humane' correctional facilities is being met. Robert Green, warden of the 1,029-bed Montgomery County Correctional Facility at Boyds, Maryland says prison sexual violence must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted. 'Crime should be no more acceptable within the walls of our correctional facilities than it is in the streets of our communities,' Green said.
• Scout Leader in California Accused of Abuse
  SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 A scout leader who once sued the City of Berkeley for challenging a national Boy Scout ban on members who are gay or atheist has been arrested on felony charges that for at least five years he sexually abused young males in the troops he led. Sgt. Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley police said the scout leader, Eugene A. Evans, 64, a retired high school teacher and for 35 years leader of the Berkeley Sea Scouts, was arrested at his home in nearby Kensington on Tuesday after investigators identified four youths, ages 13 to 17, who said they had been sexually abused by him. Sergeant Kusmiss said the police began an investigation after a boy and his mother came to them with accusations on Nov. 14. Mr. Evans is scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court on Friday to enter a plea on 19 felony counts of sexual assault. Mr. Evanss lawyer, Philip Schnayerson, said Thursday that hundreds of former scouts and friends had called to voice support. There have been no complaints of improper or criminal behavior in any of the communities he has lived in, Mr. Schnayerson said of his client. Mr. Evans sued the city in his role as a leader of the Sea Scouts, an affiliate program of the Boy Scouts. The city, after providing free berthing for a Sea Scouts boat for 60 years, said in 1998 that a Boy Scout policy barring gay scouts and atheists violated Berkeleys rules against discrimination. The city said the Scouts would have to leave the berth or pay $500 a month rent. Mr. Evans sued for discrimination and for violating the Scouts First Amendment rights. The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Berkeley.
• Students Learn Sexual Assault Information
  Women (and men) are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone they know, according to Dr. Nancy Kimber in a lecture she gave to California State University, Long Beach, students earlier this week. Kimber is an obstetrician and gynecologist, and serves as the sexual assault consultant for the Long Beach Police Department. Catherine Brooks, who teaches Gender Issues in Communication at CSULB, invited Kimber and Captain Robert Martin, who retired from the Los Angeles Police Department, to discuss violence, instinct and sexual assault in a lecture on campus last Monday. After opening her presentation with a discussion on the definitions of rape, Kimber explained that the most common form of rape is acquaintance rape, commonly known as date rape. Ninety percent of college women whove been victims of sexual assault know their rapist, Kimber said, And with acquaintance rape, 85% involve alcohol. Kimber explained that men also experience sexual assault by acquaintances. In fact, 10% of acquaintance rapes are performed on men. Many sexual assaults go unreported by the victims because of fear of the perpetrator, fear of no one believing them or because of the process they have to go through in the emergency room, Kimber said. In other cities, victims have to wait in the emergency room, sometimes for hours, Kimber said, We have a private room outside of the emergency room. Long Beach is a well-oiled machine. The process for victims in Long Beach begins with a police report and leads to action from the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), Kimber said. SART includes a police officer, a sex crimes detective, a forensic nurse and a rape advocate. As a gynecologist, Kimber also has the chance to see patients who have not gone to the police and ask them if theyve ever been sexually assaulted, she said. Both men and women can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, she said. Captain Martin discussed avoiding the violence before it occurs. Martin worked for the LAPD for 28 years and now works for Gavin DeBecker and Associates, a firm that advises corporations and individuals on situations that might escalate to violence. Martin compared situations in films like The Graduate to inappropriate pursuits (he refrained from calling it stalking) in real life. Many movies teach us persistence will win the war, Martin said, but persistence only proves persistence it does not prove love. Martin explained that victims need to stop returning phone calls or e-mails from the person who is inappropriately pursuing them. Conditional rejections arent rejections they are conditions, Martin said. The group of about 40 people watching the guest lecture included Brooks class, Long Beach Police Department officers and representatives from the Womens Resource Center.
• Study finds dangers in energy drinks with booze
  Alcohol can be twice as dangerous when mixed with an energy drink, according to a new study published two weeks ago by Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Although health officials have known for some time that energy drinks mixed with alcohol were dangerous, the study was one of the first to provide statistical evidence. It showed that students who consumed these energy drink cocktails were about twice as likely to be involved in alcohol-related accidents and injuries than drinking alcohol alone. They were also mor