There is no doubt that when we heard about the widespread abuses that occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the entire world was upset and downright outraged that such atrocities happened under the careful eyes of our military forces stationed there in Iraq. Revelations and countless stories of abuse and torture methods being used inside of U.S. prisons range from Guantanamo Bay to Pelican Bay as we deal with the swelling mass incarceration policies of the United States. Our own society, condemning those countries such as Mexico, Libya and other third world countries known to have horrendous prison conditions are now in denial that it is happening here right in our own back yard as we speak. Being in denial has its advantages as it discourages telling the truth or dealing with the problem. In a most political correct world today, we can justify this denial by saying that abuse is merely mistreatment and that it happens all the time marginalizing its impact on human beings.
The fact is not too many people know the difference between abuse, torture and negligence as they all lump it together as a kind of behavior that happens somewhere else but not in their home, their family or their neighborhood. Not distinguishing the difference between abuse and neglect is the first step to apathy of the problem. Many feel that neglect means the failure to keep someone from being harmed or hurt. Thus creates a mental picture of someone just standing there doing nothing while someone is getting physically, psychologically, sexually, financially or spiritually harmed. Again with many in society marginalizing this behavior allow or condones the practice of abuse to occur as they don’t stop to think and realize that a person who is neglecting someone or contributes this behavior towards an individual can indeed be abusive at the same time.
In a politically corrected charged world we live in we can often say that “Abuse doesn’t sound as bad as torture” and minimize these acts through silence or cultural indifferences. When one thing leads to another and the awareness level has risen to higher level one might say something like “I would think torture might be considered any level of abuse placed on an unwilling captive, who has no means to mitigate the treatment.” So after it is all said and done, we have justified the desensitization of our feelings and exclaim loudly that “torture is being rebranded and reintroduced as “abuse”. It’s less offensive and a testament to our collective love of a softened toned language.”
Prison officials are charged with custodial responsibilities or standards of care. This involves the security aspect of keeping them in a safe and orderly environment, providing them medical and mental health care and the basic needs to be fed, clothed and taken care of that do not reflect maltreatment of a person. They are after all is said and done, still people.
Herein lays a progression of acts condoned by three symptoms of the prison system that nobody wants to address or admit to be truth. The first is the culture that drives the mentality of the prison system on both sides. Each culture lives by a “code” and follows the code regardless as violations can end up in death for many cases or permanent removal from the environment. This code is conveyed and managed by the administration and its own moral compass on the matter. The second is the absence of empathy and it is replaced with apathy. This is reinforced by the acceptance of policy failures and the lack of concern to correct the problems at all ends. The needs of the prisoners now become marginalized to the level of if so determined by the individual rather than what is written in policies. The third and final symptom is the desensitization of their feelings and emotions. Becoming numb to the environment has created the perfect conditions for torture. Through repetitive exposures to neglect and abuse, both staff and inmates become disengaged about the problem and ignore remedies to fix them with the justification that “it’s not my problem.”
The definition of torture is the “anguish of body or mind [or both] – the infliction of intense pain, to punish, coerce or afford sadistic pleasure. One can instantly see the escalation of acts that are both abusive and neglectful of the environments rules and regulations.
Taking excerpts out of some articles written on abuse it says that “Physical abuse is when a person hits, slams, pulls hair, harms by the use of weaponry, murder, bites or burns etc.” It goes on to describe the neglect part by stating “whereas physical neglect is failure or delay to provide healthcare, abandonment and expulsion. Neglect also includes leaving a person or prisoner under inadequate supervision, nutrition, hygiene and clothing, and as well as in regards to safety and welfare.” Sexual abuse includes forced or unwanted sexual contact and harassment, and verbal abuse includes insult, blames and threats etc. Spiritually, a person is abused when he is deliberately prevented from following his beliefs and religious practices, and financial abuse means to steal, withhold money, or prevent access to employment and financial information around the household. Psychological neglect is also different from psychological abuse, as neglecting a person means delaying or refusing to provide physiological care to a person, and allowing abusive behaviors. Emotional abuse is inadequate emotional as well as physical care, isolation, withholding care and love etc.”
Finally, the behavior of contempt takes over the workplace and you have culture that is now in total disrespect for the rules of the establishment and will disobedience to follow such rules. Again this principle or lack of value in this case happens to both sides of the prison population; the prisoners are in contempt of institutional, civilization and society’s rules and the staff are in contempt of federal and state statutes, rules and regulations and moral conduct sworn to uphold under oath.
Source:
Difference Between Abuse and Neglect | Difference Between | Abuse vs. Neglect http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-abuse-and-neglect/#ixzz1ZLhPeOrD