Prison officials in Connecticut are trying to crack down on prison inmates pleasuring themselves—well, at least when the inmates are pleasuring themselves to intimidate other people. According to the Hartford Courant, "Department officials say it's an ongoing problem at prisons such as the high security Northern Correctional Institution, where some inmates purposefully masturbate in front of staff, often female guards, counselors or other prison workers."
The Connecticut Legislature is considering a bill that would make public indecency in prison a class D felony, with additional prison time for the inmate and a sex offender designation. Also, since there could be fines of up to $5,000, this would mean more revenue! Department spokesman Brian Garnett said, "If [inmates] were on the outside and they did something like this, they would be arrested and held accountable as a sex offender. And frankly, the same thing should hold true on the inside." (He added that it would only apply to inmates who are deliberately targeting staff, versus an instance where someone happens upon an inmate masturbating.)
Lisamarie Fontano, the president of a prison workers' union, AFSCME Local 387, said there were hundreds of incidents at Northern last year and thinks the the legislation would be effective, "This would be something that would be with them for the rest of their lives.. Typically, a male prisoner does not want to be labeled as a sex offender."
Slate looked at this issue earlier this year and offered some history, "An 1845 report from Philadelphia County Prison, for instance, identified onanism as the root cause of numerous fatal cases of mania and tuberculosis. The challenge for wardens was that the idleness of prison life seemed naturally to give rise to the vice." Also, Connecticut prison officials are working on banning all pornographic materials from cells. And who could forget that seriously NSFW and creepy scene in The Silence of the Lambs where one of the inmates pleasures himself to freak out Clarice Starling?
