In popular culture, prison often conjures ideas of non-consensual sex between inmates.
Within this dynamic of human rights abuses, issues such as the transmission of STIs and HIV are dramatically increased. This not only impacts the prison population, but also the eventual partners these individuals will have once released. It is such a public health concern, in some states there have even been efforts to make condoms available in jails.
In this case, a 23 year old inmate sentenced to 18 months for writing bad checks has accused James Trentin, a guard at the Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution in Wisconsin of paying him in contraband to be allowed to perform oral sex on him. While Trentin maintains his innocence the Wisconsin Department of Justice was prepared to pay the former inmate $150,000 in exchange for him not filing a lawsuit. In spite of this offer and similar encounters documented by other inmates, Trentin was not convicted on the 22 crimes of sexual assault he had been charged with. The attorney, Thomas Hayes, representing the former inmate has been quoted saying "It's a poor commentary on our criminal justice system ... This whole case just blows me away."
To read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-prison-oralsexcas,0,373944.story
