Denver Women's Correctional Facility Abuse

**Trigger Warning for abuse of female prisoners**

Yuck. Female prisoners in Colorado are now expected to lift their outer labia while "officers search for contraband–sometimes with a flashlight, with faces only inches away from their genitals." This is not only worse than most strip search policies in the U.S., but women who were not suspected of carrying contraband have been submitted to this search. According to prisoners who have been forced to undergo the procedure, they have been "forced to sit or stand in front of an officer and lift their outer labia and clitoral hoods to prove an absence of contraband." These "labia lifts" are especially ridiculous because thorough cavity search policies were already in place before this policy was instated.

Luckily, the ACLU is on it. They have sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Corrections citing the unconstitutionality of the practice as well as the potential for the searches to produce trauma. Trauma is especially likely to occur among women in prison as approximately 80 percent of incarcerated women survived domestic violence and physical abuse before their conviction.

Quick Read: Saudi judge says if wives spend money wastefully, they deserve to be hit

Headline from MSNBC:

Saudi judge says it's OK for men to beat wives
He makes the comments at a conference on domestic violence

Why isn't violence against women a hate crime?

I was reading a book and came across stats on hate crimes in the United States, and began thinking about the various signifiers we consider protected under hate crime legislation. It led me to this thought:

Why isn't violence against women on the basis of their gender considered a hate crime?*

I don't necessarily have an answer to this and I'm not sure where I stand on the issue. However, gender (along with race, sexual orientation, disability, etc) is protected under the equal protection clause, so it's notable that it's not included. Protecting gender under hate crimes laws would change how street harassment, sexual violence and rape cases are viewed, in my opinion.

I can certainly think of many acts of violence done specifically against women and girls because they are women and girls.

*Edit - added "on the basis of their gender" added 2/26 at 11:30 EST for clarification reasons.

Laws Are Failing Women

On March 7th, in Arlington Heights, IL, Cindy Bischof was shot dead in a parking lot by her ex-boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend she had taken all the legal precautions to protect herself against. She had rendered a two-year order of protection against him, the strictest possible measure, which he had violated. He was sent to prison for two months; however, it was after he was released that he killed Cindy.

"In certain cases, a protective court order is not enough and the only viable option is for a woman to either enter a shelter or relocate, experts say."

Women are being forced to completely relocate their lives and even change their names in order to avoid potential violence from their ex-partners. This is unacceptable. If the laws are failing, the laws need to be changed. Period.

However, other than locking up people with the potential to commit these crimes, how can women be protected?

Anti-domestic violence ads

These ads are powerful commentaries on domestic violence. Please view them, and click for a larger image.

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