THE ACLU IS FAILING WOMEN IN PRISONS

By Victoria Norvell, WoLF Volunteer

The ACLU has some grand ideals when it comes to prisoner rights, but they are failing to walk-the-walk nearly so well as they talk-the-talk.

Recent filings by the ACLU in WoLF’s ongoing case against the state of California have revealed that, while they still talk publicly to their donors about women’s rights, the right to religious freedom, and the right to bodily autonomy, behind the scenes in their more obscured legal dealings they are questioning the very notion of male and female people.

Let’s take a brief look at what the ACLU professes publicly to be the rights of prisoners: From their own “Know Your Rights: Prisoner’s Rights” page, they say each prisoner has the right to…

• Be protected from excessive force or assault.

The ACLU helpfully wants you to know that a prison may have failed in its duties if staff knew of a heightened risk of assault and failed to protect you from it or if they create conditions or practices that create an unreasonable risk of assault.

This will be very helpful to know for the women who have been housed in overcrowded facilities with male convicts, a disproportionately large number of whom are convicted sex offenders. The women’s generally low-security housing will serve as a perfect hunting ground for these men, who have already committed offenses against female prisoners in several states including the state of California. The female victims must feel very secure in knowing that the ACLU will publicly declare that they should be protected while privately pushing to continue the conditions that allowed their attackers in, in the first place.

• Be protected from religious discrimination

“If prison officials cannot show [a compelling, opposing, governmental interest], they must provide a religious accommodation to enable you to practice your faith,” the ACLU says publicly.

Of course, it is common knowledge that many religious traditions require female practitioners to avoid nudity or exposure in the presence of males who are not familial or requires them to shun the presence of non-familial males entirely. Publicly the ACLU professes to support religious freedoms for all. Behind the closed doors of a courtroom, though, they agree with the state of California when it denies that being housed with males negatively impacts the religious freedoms of the currently incarcerated. They have yet to clarify whether they are arguing that these women should cease showering, that they should shower in their clothing, or that they should just convert to another religion that the ACLU likes better.

• Be protected during pregnancy

It’s too easy to point out that the number of pregnancies in prison is bound to increase as more males are housed with female inmates (even if the ACLU forgets how babies are made). Pregnancy is a time of increased vulnerability for all women, even those outside of prisons. Needless to say, this vulnerability increases during incarceration. Inside a prison, female inmates face shortages of medical attention, potential shackling during delivery, and increased pressure to accede to medical procedures they may not want, such as sterilization.

The ACLU publicly declares that pregnant inmates should be free of those burdens and pressures. They do not acknowledge however that the best way to avoid inmates succumbing to these abuses is to help them not get pregnant in the first place by avoiding contact with males.

• Be housed with serious consideration given to your view of your own safety

Yeah… but only for men.

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