In a disturbing new article published by Gay Pop Buzz, a bisexual man opens up about the horrors he experienced while serving time in an Illinois state prison.
In 2010, Ron was sentenced to prison for several drug charges. He was 30 years old, bisexual, and had never been locked up before.
Ron was sent to Stateville Correctional Facility, a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois.
His first week at the facility wasn’t as bad as he had feared. Then week two rolled around.
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Ron recalls:
At the beginning of my second week, three members of the Latin Kings (LKs) forced me to have sex with them. I tried to tell the them no but quickly found out that when the LK’s want something, they get it. One of them used a piece of rebar and struck me on the side of my head, knocking me out cold. When I came to, I woke up in a shower stall with white stuff on my face and butt. I was also bleeding badly.
Ron grappled with reporting the assault to the corrections officers but ultimately decided against it.
“Snitches don’t live very long,” he writes.
Related: Guards ignored gay prisoner’s cries for help as he was brutally raped and beaten
But his problems only escalated from there.
“After you get raped by a gang in prison, they basically own you,” Ron explains. “I learned this the hard way because a fews days after being gangbanged and group raped, the same three LK’s did it again to me.”
When he tried calling for help, Ron says, a knife was pressed up against his throat.
What happened next is truly, truly disturbing:
They rustled me into a porters closet and told me to strip down. There was nothing I could do as two of them forced me on my knees while the third kept watch.
Without lube or condoms, the bigger of the three rammed his d*ick up my butt. I couldn’t help but scream because I was in excruciating pain. That’s when one of them punched me in the face then shoved his d*ck in my mouth.
It didn’t end until all three of them finished what they had set out to do.
Ron says he eventually became the “property” of the LKs and was constantly at their mercy, both when it came to fulfilling their sexual needs and being their “slave,” and he was passed around from guy to guy on a near daily basis.
Related: What is federal prison like for a gay man? This former inmate shares all the details
“If you try to show the slightest bit of disrespect, the punishment is severe,” he says.
For nearly two months, various members of the LKs repeatedly took turns gangbanging me … over and over again. Do you know what it’s like being constantly raped or living in fear of it?
The abuse didn’t stop until one day Ron was hurt so badly by two men that he had to go to the prison infirmary to be treated for rectal bleeding.
After that, he managed to convince prison staff to put him in solitary confinement. He spent 23 hours a day in a 12-foot concrete cell by himself, with no TV, no books, and no interaction with anyone else.
“But it was a lot better than being forcibly raped by other men,” he says.
Ron was released in 2015. He says he still suffers from PTSD and has flashbacks of being gang raped from which he expects it will take him years to recover.
“Being an inmate is already hard, trust me,” he writes. “When you are abused, gangbanged and violated, it makes trying to do your time all the worse.”
Related: Former inmate shares the horrors of being gay in prison
h/t: Gay Pop Buzz
Kangol
Thanks for this article, which offers a glimpse of a situation that happens far too often in prisons across the US.
For people who are interested, the Marshall Project has a series of links about the ongoing problem of prison rape and discussions of how to end it.
Also, the Washington Post has covered the topic and points out that the means to end prison rape exist, but the will and enforcement mechanisms aren’t there yet.
Frank McGinness
Kangol, Thank you for providing this caring information. It would have been great if this article ended with such relevant information. Queerty?
crowebobby
I don’t know if this is viable option for everyone or in every prison, but I have a friend who went to prison on a drug charge in the early 70’s and asked to be put into solitary confinement telling the warden “these guys will kill me.” Seems a lot better than the alternative.
barkomatic
Prisons are like this because the public wants them to be. Until we move away from a concept of justice based on revenge these things will happen.
Raphael
“Revenge”!? I’m curious, what is your concept of justice?
Dutchguy
@Raphael: Deterrence and rehabilitation, with the latter arguably being the most important.
Creamsicle
Absolutely! We need to work on programs to rehabilitate and help inmates make the transition back into society. Otherwise we’re doing nothing but reincarnating the same people over and over again. It’s a fuckbarrel and it’s horrible, but it should not be partisan, because it is also a massive waste of tax-payer dollars.
Even if you are a “tough on crime,” person, there is no denying that our current prison system is a huge waste of money, and privatizing prisons is not a solution. If anything, it has made the situation even worse since private prisons have no incentive to reduce the prison population regardless of the actual crime rate.
Creamsicle
Reincarcerating*
Greg
I don’t want them to be like that. I don’t even think about prisons. I don’t plan on ever having to spend time in one.
Kieran
The article mentions PTSD but nothing about STDs. What is his HIV status since being repeatedly raped by gang members in prison?
dwes09
The HIV rate among inmates is five times higher than among the general public. Thirty percent of inmates are infected with Hep-c.
Most acquired both diseases through IV drug use prior to incarceration (or between incarcerations). It is spread in prison through sexual contact and blood contact.
dwes09
So unless he is very lucky, or was seropositive prior, it is very likely he picked up one or both illnesses in prison.
CastleSF
One has to wonder what kind of crimes this guy committed and why he ended up in this maximum security prison? Child sexual assaults? If there is a hell, he was living in one for sure. Maybe he did commit a heinous crime. Only he knows.
Kangol
@CastleSF, or maybe he was wrongly convicted. It happens all the time, and according to one statistic, wrongful convictions occur 4.1% of the time for capital cases alone, which is extremely disturbing, since it means innocent people might be given the death penalty. In 2015, a record number of people were exonerated after being wrongly convicted. Do you ever think of things like that, rather than jumping on the bandwagon of censoriousness like you always do?
Heywood Jablowme
@CastleSF: Jeez, it’s RIGHT IN THE ARTICLE:
“In 2010, Ron was sentenced to prison for several drug charges.”
CastleSF
He was locked up in jail in 2010 and didn’t get released until 2015. While I would not categorize drug related crimes as heinous, they must have been bad enough to warrant a 5-year sentence. Look, nobody is saying that he deserved what happened to him in jail. Nobody does. But everybody knows that until we live in an ideal world, tragedies like this do happen unfortunately.
Franklin
@CastleSF you ever hearf of manditory minimums? You can get 10 years alone for possession of drugs like crack cocaine.
dwes09
Our federal and state prisons have been like this for many years. What Trump and the right have given us is for-profit prisons where EVERYONE is raped in terms of no rehabilitation, no medical care, the cheapest food possible and sentences extended as long as possible for the slightest infraction. And there is even less likelihood that sexual assault and gangs will be addressed (in fact, corrupt prison guards participate in both). They want bodies to warehouse, and the more they can stuff in with the least cost for maintenance, the more profit they see.
dwes09
It might be hot as a porn theme that glosses over the actual violence, and where all the participants are gay and pretty. The real thing is unlikely to be hot at all, unless you already know you enjoy bleeding from your hole and getting hosed with semen rife with HIV, Hep-b and Hep-c, and who knows what else.
You need a bit of compassion and connection to reality here.
James
Oh please, getting raped till you bleed is not hot unles you are into severe S&M.
Cylest Brooks
Greenchemical’s comment was removed for violating Queerty’s comment policy.
James
Well why can’t he sue the prison system. He’s out now.
leobaga
True. The story is so unbelievable I have a hard time believing it. He’d been raped on a daily basis and never reported it?
Creamsicle
It’s just an accusation. The report from his last infirmary visit prior to being put in solitary would be helpful in a suit, but it’s probably not enough. Without witnesses or admissions of guilt any civil or criminal suit he tries to bring will probably be settled out of court at best or dismissed in court at worst.
CastleSF
Your remark is one of the most cruel and tasteless I’ve heard in a long time. How could you allow yourself to sink so low?
Cylest Brooks
Jaxton’s comment was deleted for violating Queerty’s comment policy.
Me2
One of the realities of the US prison systems is that inmate safety is not a major priority, despite what officials may say. Harsh prison conditions are meant to be fitting retribution for people who’ve perpetrated heinous crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, the system applies severe punishment to many non-violent felons, who wind up being confined with the worst that society has to offer. So, it’s best to just stay out of prison.
Creamsicle
We all know that the conditions in our prison system are morally reprehensible, and so many policies are relics of a racist and classist past. Unless we start doing something about it though every single one of us is complicit in the rape, assault, medical abuse, and murder that happens in our prisons.
Read some writing from American prisoners and I guarantee that you will be horrified. There are stories of inmates having teeth removed unnecessarily or because they were denied care until it was necessary. There are stories of female inmates being denied proper after care following surgery and nothing but sugar packets being used to “disinfect,” their surgery wounds.
It’s not enough to just say “stay out of prison, folks!” The private prison system puts pressure on states to keep feeding them inmates by setting mandatory minimum inmate levels in their contracts with states. That means that if states fails to meet that minimum then they will be fined by the private prison. That’s giving states incentive to trump up charges, plant drugs on innocent people, and deny probation to inmates who have demonstrated good behavior and actual rehabilitation.
Me2
@ Creamsicle
Yes, mass incarceration has become a profitable business model for many private prisons and is a problem that should definitely be tackled on a state and national level. However, privatized prisons is not the reason behind the horrors of this specific story as Illinois currently has a law against privately run state prisons or county jails, that bans them. Ultimately, the problem, across the board, is that once a person goes to prison they become “junk” property of the state that must be minimally maintained. You’ll be hard pressed to find people who’re sympathetic to the mistreatment of a felon, unless they were unfairly incarcerated. Do your best to stay out of prison!
masterwill7
I swear, if they did this to me, and they would dare to push their dick in my mouth without my permission, that would be the last time any guy in prison would put his dick in my mouth!! This guy would have to live without a dick, i would chew on it and swallow it!!! I don’t understand that “the richest country on the planet” can’t even protect it’s inmates, shame on you America! In third world countries this doesn’t even happen???
ChrisK
Not that it’s any kind of Shangri-La. Obviously. However American prisons are vastly better than most other countries.
fur_hunter
I have one comment. If you were not breaking the law…you wouldn’t have gone to prison. So…what happened to you there is YOUR fault. Waahhhh…..Waaahhhh. The only folks I have sympathy for are those there wrongly. But those are far a few between. Everyone else has broken the law…..and I have NO SYMPATHY for ANYONE who has broken the law. And those who have committed unspeakable crimes, I would take out back and shoot them in the head with no problem and save the taxpayer’s money, keeping those pieces of $H!T alive in jail.
tommiej
Except we don’t live in simple world with easy solutions. Don’t forget we have a massive for profit prison system. So there’s an incentive to lock people up, for even minor crimes. And no, I don’t think non-violent criminals deserve to be taken out back and shot. We have the technology to put people on house arrest for minor drug offenses and stuff like shoplifting. Which is more economical than subsidizing a huge prison system.
Mr-DJ
Except that is NOT part of the punishment. The punishment is for X amount of time in a safe facility away from the public, and limited privileges. If getting repeatedly raped is going to be part of the expected punishment, maybe the length of time should be reduced to 2 weeks.
ChrisK
@fur_hunter. I usually agree with you but not on this one. This is a non-violent crime here. Hardly worth that kind of punishment.
Umoja
Would you personally sentence someone to a month of violent gang rape, and if so, what would they have to do to warrant such a punishment?
All members of a humane society share in the responsibility of ensuring that people and prisoners are treated ethically.
greenchemical
Is this the plot to that porno I saw last week?
o.codone
I’m leaning towards fabrication. The story sounds fake. If you’ve been raped you don’t talk about it like it’s a porn plot. I personally think it’s a fake, and if so, it’s a disgrace that someone would make this up just for titillating entertainment when rape is a serious issue. Again, if you’ve been raped you don’t talk about it like it’s porn. Calling BS on this story.
Donston
Prison rape is legit (hell, rape everywhere is legit). But yes, the way he described it and just how overall extreme it was and how long it went on just doesn’t add up. I have a feeling some bad sh*t went down. But that he’s exaggerating it for sympathy and sensationalism, which would be a terrible thing to do.
ChrisK
I’ve seen prison rape videos. One they had this guy stripped down and this Mexican gang was taking turns raping him. It does seem unbelievable but it does happen just the way he described.
Me2
If so, he porno plot was just imitating real life.
o.codone
ChrisK, I’m sure you saw that, on PornHub. But the real world is different.
randogamer
I don’t know I guest that’s white prisons cause the one I went to aint play that they had if rape report it’s your body no means no they kept us gay bi n trans protected n in view. all we did was watch tv
Pneumatikon
And that, boys and girls, is why I’m in favor of a much more liberal use of the death penalty. There’s no reason why we should be keeping Latin King gang members alive once we get our hands on them. Just because something is walking around on human legs and speaks a human language doesn’t mean it’s a human being. If we’d done our due diligence and gotten rid of the damn things this man wouldn’t have been tortured like that for months on end.
Bearinphx
I agree with you completely. It costs more tax payers dollars to keep an inmate alive on death row for one month, than it would cost a citizen to stay in the presidential suite at the Ritz Carlton for a year. And pieces of shit like the Latin King gang members are nothing but walking talking pieces of shit.
Bernice Jenkins
I do believe this because i know several people this has happened to. But they also have told me why this happens.
But first to the person who says 5 yrs is a harsh sentence for drugs and that they don’t believe this story or he had a large quantity. Umm no. You are wrong. Depends on what state you are in and what race you are, and what gender etc. Here in AZ they have locked people up for 10 years for just having some weed stems and seeds on them.
This guys first mistake was that he didn’t even try and fight back on the first attack. Even if they beat him down more you have to always fight back as hard as possible. in prison mentality that shows you are “heart” and they gain respect for you. Whether you win or lose is not important to them. since he didn’t know that and didn’t fight back to avid further injury or out of fear, they perceived this as he is a bitch now. And that is exactly what he became. Hispanics in prison are like this. Same with the majority of whites. but a lot of the whites wont even allow gays on the yards unless they are going to service everyone. But this guy had to run with the hispanics and since he didn’t fight back at all he was not their bitch.
What he should of done a lot sooner was to PC up. He waited until he was really injured and had to go to medical because he was scared of bieng perceived as a snitch. Well once you snitch you get put into PC (protective custody) cuz they know snitches get killed usually. So you should of snitched way sooner since you stated you preferred PC over getting raped daily. And also once your PI score dropped you could of went to an open PC yard instead of the Admin Seg they had you in. But im sure you didn’t know all this since it was your first time.
I would of not know all this either but friends have explained this all to me.
Now what is shocking though to me is gay men have way more problems when locked up then the T-girls do. T-girls are worshiped and treated like queens! So are really fem looking guys too.
chris33133
Thanks for the 4-1-1 on what to do in case you’re thrown in jail. I hear you on the need to fight back. I must wonder, though, how someone who’s in for drug charges (as opposed to, say, violent crime) knows enough and/or is primed to fight back. [With tongue only-partly in-cheek:] Is there some way of getting this information into new prisoners’ prison-orientation materials?
Bernice Jenkins
I don’t think there is a way to get this info out other than word of mouth. Only reason I know about it is cuz I have a few friends that got locked up.
And the other people who told me the same thing were some of the male escorts that had gotten arrested here and there that work at the various gay bar I frequent.
chris33133
When someone barely spends time in jail for rape, a dui perp avoids prison time based on affluenza, but another person spends five years on drug-related charges, I don’t see much of a link between the time someone serves and heinousness of a crime.
As long as we call something like this “a tragedy” and as long as we avoid calling these sorts of events what it they are — rape by the other prisoners, criminal neglect on the part of the guards, and systemic violence on the part of the jail system — nothing will happen to change.
Bernice Jenkins
@chris33133 I agree with you 100%
edwardnvirginia
Go volunteer with a group that visits and offers services in your local jail! EASY. Don’t just talk about it.
chris33133
Thanks for the advice on how I should volunteer, Edward. But I already volunteer with people who have mental illnesses. As a result, I don’t have much time left over for other very important causes. Yours in thinking globally but acting locally….
Bearinphx
America has the largest prison population in the world. For example, if you get caught with drugs in some other countries, you are publicly caned…in Japan, if you get caught shoplifting a 2nd time, they cut off your hand…ya know what? Things like this have REDUCED crimes in other countries BIG TIME. If you don’t want to take the chance on getting raped in prison, the best way to avoid that is avoid going to prison….and the best way to do that is comply with the law. If you break the law, these are consequences you face…boo hoo.
Franklin
That matter of fact world you live in must be great one.
Heywood Jablowme
“in Japan, if you get caught shoplifting a 2nd time, they cut off your hand…”
Not true! I don’t know where you got THAT crazy idea, but it’s not true. Maybe you’re thinking of Saudi Arabia?
ChrisK
@Heywood Jablowme. I think it’s probably Iran. However they hang you for gay sex there too so it’s all relative.
Kangol
Let’s try again. In 2015, a record number of people were exonerated after having been wrongly convicted of murder alone.
A record number.
Not everyone woh ends up in jail committed a crime. Not everyone who committed a crime ends up in jail. All sorts of things, from the quality of the defense and prosecution, to the judge and jury system, to medical examiners’ and cops’ truthfulness (or lack thereof), to the plaintiff’s and defendent’s race, ethnicity, gender, class status, etc. all factor in. On top of this, there are people being sent to jail for “crimes” that are not so in other states, or for bureaucratic crap meant to ensnare the poorest Americans, while those will money can get off. Also, there’s strong incentive to jail people in certain jurisdictions, so people are sent to jail and prison for considerations beyond just the crimes they may or may not have committed. So seriously, it’s not as simple or simplistic as you seem to think.
Frank McGinness
Example:
Father sentenced to 6 months in jail for over-paying child support …
Video for father goes to jail for paying child support and over seeing his kid
? 2:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAsboktJuGY
Bearinphx
Michael Fay was 18 years old when he was publicly caned in Singapore for spray painting his name on a car. I’ll bet his ass STILL stings every time he faces East. You can bet he thinks twice every time he even THINKS of committing a crime, and I”ll bet he hasn’t spray painted any more cars. He was caned when he was 18 years old, that was 24 years ago, and I’d be willing to bet he hasn’t broken the law since then. If so, he’s got to be pretty stupid. Point is, if you don’t want to face consequences, keep your ass out of prison, and do that by not breaking the law.
chris33133
This isn’t about cross-national variation in acceptable punishments. Though caning may be acceptable in Singapore, I don’t think it is an acceptable punishment in the U.S. I may be wrong here; but I think it might fall under the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
HOWEVER, what this particular case IS about is whether crimes (rape) committed against prisoners are acceptable. The last time that I checked, they are not.
batesmotel
The irony is that people joke about people going to prison and make the same asinine comments like, “He’ll get to be someone’s prison b8tch now.” As if that’s something to aspire to. People automatically assume because you’re arrested that the crime warrants that kind of punishment. Often most people in jail are in there for small crimes. The larger crimes such as mass murder, etc. end up in a more severely closed type of prison.
ChrisK
Jesus. I think I join the Aryan Brotherhood or something. Anything’s better than that fate.
Kangol
You don’t think they rape people either? They do, as Human Rights Watch has documented. Or are you saying you’d rather be raped by Aryans than anyone else?
edwardnvirginia
We’re surprise BLM hasn’t launched a campaign again Queerty for publishing this story that so perfectly apparently confirms Trumpworld’s estimation of Latinx. Violent abusers, inhuman rapists, ‘animalistic’ predators. And we’re surprised Queerty published it without multiple disclaimers, neutralizing any mention of ‘race’ or ‘ethnicity’. Was this story purchased by Trumpworld?
edwardnvirginia
Rape is a crime of violence and primarily about exerting power. It’s much easier and safer just to jerk off while in jail. But, rape, especially, as seen here, gang rape, and repeated gang rape, if display of power (for others to see and know – that increases your power!), exercise of power with all the chemical signaling that goes on ( stimulating the body, arousing the brain, exciting energy – like the ‘high’ of drugs – remember that many incarcerated had/have addiction and those craving for a ‘high), and the pleasures of power. A nasty looking penis or arse would not be a deterrent when power-mongering is the goal.
Mack
I have a cousin in prison in Nevada, he’s been there for 20+ years. When he got to prison he got into a fight (he’s a big dude) and that set the tone. They pretty much left him alone after that. The guards don’t give a damn, they just come to work and put in their time and demand they be called Mr.
Some states are more lenient on what happens to other inmates than some. He could file suit, but proving what happens is something else. Even the prisoners medical records gets changed to support the “State”. I feel sorry for this guy, I’m sure he did get raped many times.
Naughtynought
Maybe there’s something wrong with me but I’ve always fantasized of being gang raped… No offense meant towards rape victims, I know that reality and fantasy are different but that just so happens to be one of my darkest fantasies. I’ve also always wondered, what would happen to someone who deliberately walked around naked in prison, was willing and always lubed up?