Broadcast DetailsShow: Special Assignment VIIIEpisode Title: For The Boys
Date: Tuesday, 4 July, 2006
Time: 21h30
Channel: SABC 3
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In December 2005 Dion Edwards was arrested for a traffic offence allegedly committed seven years earlier. For two nights he was jailed in the holding cell at the Port Shepstone Police Station. While inside, he was gang-raped.
Dion’s ordeal could have happened to anyone. The South African constitution underscores the inherent right of every person to dignity. But in our holding cells and prisons that basic human right is being destroyed.
Experts estimate that up to 80% of male inmates suffer abuse - much of it sexual. In fact male rape behind bars is entrenched in prison culture. It is perpetrated with impunity by prison gangs as a form of punishment, power and control.
Selecting a victim is not based on age, race, category of crime, innocence or guilt. The principal prerequisite is that the victim is vulnerable. It is an open secret muzzled into silence through the victims’ fear and shame, the perpetrators’ arrogance and the authorities’ indifference.
Special Assignment investigates male rape behind bars and the manner in which sexual violence has become ritualised into prison gang culture.
The programme explores the rationale behind male rape and the brutal consequences for both perpetrators and victims. ‘For the boys’ examines the blurred boundaries that sometimes develop between men who have been sexually abused in prison and those who commit sexual offences in society.
The programme also tackles the patterns of sexual violence that may begin in juvenile places of safety and continue in prison.
Although the Sexual Offences Bill says otherwise, rape is not gender-specific. Unless this silent epidemic is effectively confronted, South African jails and prisons will continue to serve as safe havens for thousands of serial rapists.
‘For the boys’ is directed by Hazel Friedman and was largely filmed by Johnny Miller and Brian Uranovsky.