The Arlington Morning News (Dallas Morning News)
1999.02.10
http://www.dallasnews.com 

UTA guest speaker sheds light on prison atrocities
By Julie Elliott Staff Writer of the Arlington Morning News
Published February 10, 1999

 It's called the dirty little secret of prison life.
 Prison rape is generally an uncomfortable subject to
 discuss, but Thomas P. Cahill doesn't mind talking
 about it. He said it's a problem that plagues American
 jails.

 Mr. Cahill - a speaker for Amnesty International's
 Rights for All campaign - spoke to a group of
 University of Texas at Arlington criminal justice
 students Tuesday night about his rape in a Bexar
 County jail after he was arrested for civil
 disobedience.

 "Especially since I am a veteran, I feel my country
 has let me down big time," said Mr. Cahill, who is
 also president of the nonprofit group Stop Prisoner
 Rape. "Prison guards use prisoner rape as an
 additional punishment for potential leaders, jailhouse
 lawyers and left-wing dissidents.

 "They use prisoner rape as a . . . tool. Prisoner rape
 is also entertainment for the guards."

 After Mr. Cahill painted a grim picture of prison
 life, the Rev. John Nunez of St. Charles Church in
 Grand Prairie asked all the male students to stand and
 pointed to each one.

 "These are the men who would be the first women in the
 Texas prison system," said Father Nunez, who was raped
 and beaten while serving as the chaplain at Jesse
 Dawson State Jail in Dallas.

 "They are all different shapes, sizes and colors. But
 they would be the first. Some of the guys in the
 system are plain people - just like all of you sitting
 here."

 While students took notes and listened attentively to
 Mr. Cahill, some shifted uncomfortably in their chair.
 Several said they were amazed to learn prison rapes
 occurred while guards were aware.

 "I am really shocked about what is going on," said
 Miguel Castillo, a senior criminal justice student.
 "It is like you are going back to the practices of the
 Dark Ages."

 At the Tarrant County Jail, no sexual assault reports
 were filed in 1998, said Capt. John Dalton of the
 Sheriff's Department.

 The last reported sexual assault at the jail occurred
 several years ago, he said.

 "I'm not saying they don't happen, but it hasn't been
 reported in a long time," Capt. Dalton said. "Usually,
 an officer-on-inmate attack would be reported, but
 they don't always report inmate-on-inmate attacks."

 Amnesty International estimates that 83,000 sexual
 assaults occurred in U.S. prisons in 1995. About
 26,000 assaults occurred in 1985, the group reported.

 Martha Bacile Findlay, a professor in the criminology
 and criminal justice program at UTA, said she invites
 a variety of speakers to her classes to give students
 a perspective on how their future jobs will affect
 people and the community they live in. She said she
 especially wants them to be sympathetic to victims.

 "These students will work as police officers, lawyers
 or judges, and I don't want them to make a mistake,"
 said Dr. Findlay, who was a police officer for 18
 years. " . . . But I want my students to be aware and
 be compassionate to the people they work with."

 Father Nunez agreed.

 "For whatever field of criminal justice you work in as
 a lawyer, prison guard or judge - just remember it
 could happen to you," he said. "And the things I am
 talking about didn't happen before, they are happening
 right now."

 Staff Writer Nancy Calaway contributed to this report.

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