Police Minister Calls for Prison Rape for Christchurch Earthquake Looters

[kiwiana]

[...] Police Minister Judith Collins said the actions of looters was akin to "people who rob the dead".

She expected to see the judiciary throw the book at looters.

"I hope they go to jail for a long time - with a cellmate."

Full article here.

Because apparently, it's okay for a member of our Government to publicly wish rape on somebody.

Comments

[putana]

Oh, heck. She is just embarrassing and infuriating. The reaction to looters is becoming a witch hunt from what I have seen on the news.

[pythia]

Urgh. One more reason to hate her.

As far as I'm concerned, there are more important things that we need to be focusing our thoughts and energy on than vengeance and wishing more harm on people of Christchurch. Everyone's just trying to sruvive at the moment, even those looters.

[nutmegdealer]

thank you.

[patu_paiarehe]

I can understand the anger people feel towards looters, but Anne Tolley should know better. It's a visceral reaction for some people, but she hasn't been living in the same kind of conditions and that kind of rash gut reaction isn't acceptable in a public figure, ESPECIALLY the justicee minister.

That kind of thing is disgusting and totally reduces any small amount of faith I have left in our prison system.

[nikoel]

'Cuz you know what's worse than being incarcerated? Being raped... by a man.

And people say the condoning of forced sex is a myth.

[seasontoseason]

Not to be totally out to lunch, but to my ears, "I hope they go to jail for a long time - with a cellmate" isn't really equal to "i hope they get raped by their cellmates forever!"
I mean, people in jail really do have cellmates. Having a cellmate could/would be horrible in 1,000,001 ways, only one of which is sexual assault.
Maybe I'm just being naive about the intentions of this speaker, I'm not sure.... but my immediate reaction was "huh?"... more a reaction of confusion or "that is a lame burn" than "this refers to rape."

However, insofar as that IS what she meant... that is unacceptable on so many levels.

"If I saw one of those pricks I would f***ing bury the ****," said Mark Poissonnier - and his feelings are shared by thousands of people on social media sites.
Ugh. Social media sites bring out THE WORST in people. So... no, I'm not surprised people on social media sites would say that in droves but, at the same time, that doesn't mean that everyone in the world concurs with the awful comments on those sites.

[zeborahnz]

Not to be totally out to lunch, but to my ears, "I hope they go to jail for a long time - with a cellmate" isn't really equal to "i hope they get raped by their cellmates forever!"
I mean, people in jail really do have cellmates.Quite. Since people in jail have cellmates, hoping these guys get cellmates makes no sense. (As opposed to, say, hoping they get solitary confinement.) Therefore she means something other than just a cellmate's existence; the cellmate has to do something specific to further punish the looters. And what joke does pop culture most make about how prison cellmates terrorise fellow inmates? It sure ain't chewing gum or snoring too loud

[zeborahnz]

Sorry, posted prematurely by Act of Cat. Delete (2) and conclude the footnote with something like "but was certainly indistinguishable from such an event".

[seasontoseason]

that is a very good point, and now that I have read your dissection of it, I see that it really must have been a joke about rape. Thanks for the analysis.