In 1992, I too, was raped by a prison[er] in Tahachapi Correctional Institution. This happened because of the deliberate indifference of the staff who were on duty when I was attacked.

I have recently filed suit in the Federal courts regarding my attack.

I was completely devastated psychologically and emotionally by me sodomy attack. I am 19 years old and feel that my manhood has been violated. No young man should have to endure this kind of experience.

What happened to me, happened in my cell one early morning just before chow. Two days prior, an officer had put...a known sex offender...into my cell. I immediately asked to be moved to another cell. The officer refused to move me that day. The following day, I again, asked to be moved, but was told that I would be moved the following day. The next morning I was attacked. This has not only happen to me, there has been a pattern of rapes in this prison within the past 4 years that I know of. None of the attackers have been prosecuted to date.

It is good to know that someone out there cares such as your organization.

In the past few years, there has been several rape incidents including one murder of an inmate who repeatedly requested to be moved to another cell because of his fear of personal safety. The officials ignored his pleads for three weeks, and one night, him and his celly had a fight and "Chris Brown" was killed.

Most of the rapes seem to occur in Tehachapi's administrative segregation unit where inmates are locked-down 24 hours a day. In fact, this is where I personally witnessed prison officers ignore inmates cry for help when their cell mates were attacking them. In most cases, the officers actually joked about it. This makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it.

-Larry Anderson, Tehachapi, California