Reference no: EM133243423

Assignment - Read the ethical dilemma presented below and answer the questions that follow.

Six Months to Go - Six months ago the biggest concern in your life was finishing college. Now your biggest concern is your own personal safety. Never in a million years did you dream that you would be spending the 20th year of your life in a state prison. As a sociology major in college you studied about crime, criminals, and prisons, but that was nothing compared to your situation now. The constant noise of steel and concrete; the smell of bodies, cigarettes, and old buildings; the inability to go where you want to go, eat what you want to eat -- all this is foreign and confusing to you.

Sure, you smoked some grass and sometimes used pills to stay up and study for exams when you were in college; a lot of other students did the same. You had never expected to get "busted" for selling a small amount of marijuana and uppers to an acquaintance who turned out to be a narcotics officer. But you did. Since it was your first offense, your lawyer said probation was a sure thing. Unfortunately for you, however, you got a judge who was fed up with drug abuse. He decided that it was time to crack down, and he used you as an example. As a result, he sentenced you to 3 years in the state prison. when he pronounced sentence, the sky fell for you and your family.

Your experiences in prison have left you confused and frustrated. During those first few months of incarceration, you felt hopeless and alone. Your family, although upset and embarrassed, has stuck by you. The efforts of a young prison counselor and the support of your family have kept you going. Only 6 months remain on your sentence before you come up for parole. You have "kept your nose clean" with the prison staff and other inmates.

Last night a terrible incident occurred: Your 18 year-old cellmate, Sam, was brutally raped and beaten by four older inmates, who informed you that the same fate would be yours if you reported them. You remember only too well the whistles and the threats directed toward you during the first several days you were in the cellblock. You realize that your size and former athletic conditioning allowed you to establish a relative amount of independence in the prison; your cellmate, being smaller and weaker, had no such natural defense qualities. You also realize that if you report what they did to your friend, the four inmates are likely to make good their threat. Still, you cannot rid yourself of the rage and sickness you feel because of your friend's humiliation and helplessness. You know that he might be attacked again, yet you are also confronted with your own needs of survival and well-being.

The only employee you trust in the prison is a young counselor. Not having been at the prison very long, he has only a limited amount of influence with the prison administration. Nevertheless, he is enthusiastic and well intentioned. You cannot forget what happened to your cellmate, but with only 6 months before parole you are also thinking of your own welfare.

QUESTIONS -

1. What is the prison administration's moral obligation in protective prison inmates from sexual abuse?

2. How could prison officials have done a better job to protect Sam from sexual assault?

3. Are there other ways to diminish the potential for sexual aggression in prison?

4. What would you do in this situation?