Definition of Privacy
This was an article I have been meaning to write on since July. A prisoner was found guilty of indecent exposure because he was masturbating in his cell. He was completely alone, with no guards in the area. The female officer witnessed the prisoner masturbating while watching by video feed from a master control room a hundred feet away. She complained that because he didn't do it under a blanket like other prisoners, that he was indecently exposing himself, even though his masturbation wasn't directed at the camera and he was not trying to be offensive, since he was under the impression that he was alone.
The jury determined that the prisoner's cell was "a limited access public place", so indecent exposure was against the law. Nevermind that by that argument prisoners are never supposed to masturbate. Also disregard that by using the toilet in his cell, the prisoner was therefore urinating and defecating in public, which also counts as indecent exposure*. Yet if the guard had tried to argue that using the toilet was indecent exposure, everyone would have laughed her out of the courtroom. But he could have used a blanket to conceal his indecent urination... The way the cell is set up, there's no privacy for the prisoner while using the toilet. Similarly there's no privacy for masturbation. It's ridiculous to punish prisoners for doing activities in their cells which people commonly do in the privacy of their own home.
It's only because he was doing something sexual that's frowned upon by some religions that this case held any weight. She can act all mortified by the lewdness of his sex act because she can rely on the pureness of religious moral code to support her side of the argument. It's disgusting. The part that really got me fuming was:
"Did other inmates start masturbating because of [prisoner] Mr Alexander?" [lawyer] Ms McHugh asked [guard] Ms Veal. "Did you call a Swat team?"
"I wish I had," the deputy replied.
What the hell??? Didn't anyone on the jury call her on her outrageous bullshit? If she's so sensitive to these sorts of things then she shouldn't be working in a PRISON, where she would have to monitor men all day long, taking showers, taking shits, getting morning wood, and masturbating. It comes with the territory for watching someone every waking moment that you will see them naked and see them sexually aroused. This case is not an issue about indecent exposure, but another case of religious zealots imposing their sexual behavioral code on people who do not ascribe to their beliefs.
Prisoner found guilty of masturbating in his cell
David Batty
Thursday July 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
It is a verdict likely to cause great consternation to lonely prisoners throughout the US penal system. A prisoner in Florida has been found guilty of indecent exposure for masturbating alone in his cell. Terry Lee Alexander, 20, of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, was sentenced to a further 60 days in jail on top of the 10-year term he is currently serving for armed robbery, the Miami Herald reported yesterday. He was prosecuted after a female sheriff's office deputy witnessed him performing the sex act in his cell in Broward County, Florida, last November. The case drew sniggers from the courtroom as prospective jurors were questioned about their own masturbatory habits and the only witness was asked whether she had considered calling in a Swat team to tackle the defendant. In reaching their verdict on Tuesday, jurors decided that an inmate's cell was "a limited access public place" where exposing oneself wasagainst the law. The only witness in the case, Broward sheriff's office deputy Coryus Veal, testified that Alexander did not try to conceal what he was doing as most prisoners did. She witnessed the act while working in a glass-enclosed master control room, 30 metres (100ft) from Alexander's cell. There was no videotape evidence of the offence. The prisoner's lawyer, Kathleen McHugh, failed to get him cleared on the grounds that a cell was a private place and what Alexander was doing was perfectly normal.
"Did other inmates start masturbating because of Mr Alexander?" Ms McHugh asked Ms Veal. "Did you call a Swat team?"
"I wish I had," the deputy replied.
Ms Veal, who has charged seven other inmates with the same offence, said she was not against masturbation, but she objected to Alexander performing it so blatantly. She told the court that most inmates masturbated in bed, under the blankets. The deputy said it was the third time she had caught Alexander masturbating, and she had had enough. After the verdict, the juror David Sherman said the case was "pretty straightforward". "The prosecution's case was clear, and the defence did not dispute any of the major elements," he told the Miami Herald. Mr Sherman said jurors determined that a prison cell, which was owned and operated by the government, was neither public nor private but was a "limited access public place'.' Ms McHugh asked the 17 prospective jurors who among them had never masturbated. No hands went up. Prosecutors filed charges in all seven of Ms Veal's other cases, according to a spokesman for the Broward state attorney's office. The charges were dropped in one of these cases to allow the defendant to begin his sentence in the state prison system on a more serious, unrelated charge. Four of the others pleaded guilty and were sentenced to time served. Charges against the other two inmates are pending.
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* I remember guys in college coming home from parties and getting busted by cops for indecent exposure for taking a leak, despite going out of their way to find a dark place behind a bush or building where they wouldn't be seen. It seems to defeat the purpose of charging someone with indecent exposure when the person is going out of their way to not to be seen.
The jury determined that the prisoner's cell was "a limited access public place", so indecent exposure was against the law. Nevermind that by that argument prisoners are never supposed to masturbate. Also disregard that by using the toilet in his cell, the prisoner was therefore urinating and defecating in public, which also counts as indecent exposure*. Yet if the guard had tried to argue that using the toilet was indecent exposure, everyone would have laughed her out of the courtroom. But he could have used a blanket to conceal his indecent urination... The way the cell is set up, there's no privacy for the prisoner while using the toilet. Similarly there's no privacy for masturbation. It's ridiculous to punish prisoners for doing activities in their cells which people commonly do in the privacy of their own home.
It's only because he was doing something sexual that's frowned upon by some religions that this case held any weight. She can act all mortified by the lewdness of his sex act because she can rely on the pureness of religious moral code to support her side of the argument. It's disgusting. The part that really got me fuming was:
"Did other inmates start masturbating because of [prisoner] Mr Alexander?" [lawyer] Ms McHugh asked [guard] Ms Veal. "Did you call a Swat team?"
"I wish I had," the deputy replied.
What the hell??? Didn't anyone on the jury call her on her outrageous bullshit? If she's so sensitive to these sorts of things then she shouldn't be working in a PRISON, where she would have to monitor men all day long, taking showers, taking shits, getting morning wood, and masturbating. It comes with the territory for watching someone every waking moment that you will see them naked and see them sexually aroused. This case is not an issue about indecent exposure, but another case of religious zealots imposing their sexual behavioral code on people who do not ascribe to their beliefs.
Prisoner found guilty of masturbating in his cell
David Batty
Thursday July 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
It is a verdict likely to cause great consternation to lonely prisoners throughout the US penal system. A prisoner in Florida has been found guilty of indecent exposure for masturbating alone in his cell. Terry Lee Alexander, 20, of Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, was sentenced to a further 60 days in jail on top of the 10-year term he is currently serving for armed robbery, the Miami Herald reported yesterday. He was prosecuted after a female sheriff's office deputy witnessed him performing the sex act in his cell in Broward County, Florida, last November. The case drew sniggers from the courtroom as prospective jurors were questioned about their own masturbatory habits and the only witness was asked whether she had considered calling in a Swat team to tackle the defendant. In reaching their verdict on Tuesday, jurors decided that an inmate's cell was "a limited access public place" where exposing oneself wasagainst the law. The only witness in the case, Broward sheriff's office deputy Coryus Veal, testified that Alexander did not try to conceal what he was doing as most prisoners did. She witnessed the act while working in a glass-enclosed master control room, 30 metres (100ft) from Alexander's cell. There was no videotape evidence of the offence. The prisoner's lawyer, Kathleen McHugh, failed to get him cleared on the grounds that a cell was a private place and what Alexander was doing was perfectly normal.
"Did other inmates start masturbating because of Mr Alexander?" Ms McHugh asked Ms Veal. "Did you call a Swat team?"
"I wish I had," the deputy replied.
Ms Veal, who has charged seven other inmates with the same offence, said she was not against masturbation, but she objected to Alexander performing it so blatantly. She told the court that most inmates masturbated in bed, under the blankets. The deputy said it was the third time she had caught Alexander masturbating, and she had had enough. After the verdict, the juror David Sherman said the case was "pretty straightforward". "The prosecution's case was clear, and the defence did not dispute any of the major elements," he told the Miami Herald. Mr Sherman said jurors determined that a prison cell, which was owned and operated by the government, was neither public nor private but was a "limited access public place'.' Ms McHugh asked the 17 prospective jurors who among them had never masturbated. No hands went up. Prosecutors filed charges in all seven of Ms Veal's other cases, according to a spokesman for the Broward state attorney's office. The charges were dropped in one of these cases to allow the defendant to begin his sentence in the state prison system on a more serious, unrelated charge. Four of the others pleaded guilty and were sentenced to time served. Charges against the other two inmates are pending.
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* I remember guys in college coming home from parties and getting busted by cops for indecent exposure for taking a leak, despite going out of their way to find a dark place behind a bush or building where they wouldn't be seen. It seems to defeat the purpose of charging someone with indecent exposure when the person is going out of their way to not to be seen.