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from the adding-injury-and-insult-to-insult-and-injury dept.
The anonymous woman was raped in Houston in 2013, according to court documents, and was cooperating with prosecutors when she suffered a breakdown while testifying in December 2015.
She has bipolar disorder and was admitted to a local hospital for mental health treatment when the judge ordered a recess for the holiday break until January 2016.
According to the documents, authorities were scheduled to be on vacation and "did not want the responsibility of having to monitor Jane Doe's well being or provide victim services to her during the holiday recess."
The complaint alleges that the district attorney's office obtained an order from the Harris County sheriff to take the woman into custody so she would not flee before completing her testimony.
The employee booking her into Harris County Jail identified her as a "defendant in a sexual assault case, rather than the victim." That impacted her treatment from jail staff, as the complaint reads:
The Harris County Jail psychiatric staff tormented Jane Doe and caused her extreme emotional distress and mental anguish by further defaming her, falsely insisting to her that she was being charged with sexual assault, and refusing to acknowledge her status as an innocent rape victim."
Doe also suffered beatings from other inmates and from a guard, who then requested assault charges to be filed against her "in an attempt to cover up the brutal abuse," according to the complaint.
[...] The complaint notes that her "rapist was also an inmate in the same facility" and treated more humanely. "Her rapist was not denied medical care, psychologically tortured, brutalized by other inmates, or beaten by jail guards," it reads.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday July 25 2016, @04:53PM
Fifth weird aspect to the story not being reported is why the dude is in there.
Yeah yeah critical feminist theory that all men are rapists or WTF-land. But in practice, accused attackers are not usually tossed in the mental health center. So there's something behind that story.
One story that instantly springs to mind is legally inmates cannot consent, therefore all sex is rape. The guards know that there are "couples" that keep it quiet, happy couples mean calm conditions mean happy guards (happy in a different way hopefully). But the guy cheats on her or otherwise pisses her off enough to make her angry enough to go all rape allegation, which is not unheard of, but this makes the guards look awful (as if they have enough staff to prevent two willing participants from bumping uglies) AND the local inmates are now getting cracked down on which is ruining their sex lives and therefore making them extremely angry with her.
I mean the most likely explanation of the story, that is carefully not being explained, doesn't cast her in a very positive light, which is probably why its not being reported. There are other possible explanations that make her look bad, but they're less likely.
Or reading between the lines, what if the dude's day job is being a guard? The dude isn't crazy, he works there. Or in the cafeteria or janitorial staff or who knows.
Its just fascinating that the dude is in there with her and that's carefully and intentionally not a major discussion point in the story.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Adamsjas on Monday July 25 2016, @05:18PM
You said:
"Fifth weird aspect to the story not being reported is why the dude is in there."
She was testifying at HIS rape trial. That's why he is in jail.
The only question is why was SHE in jail.
Harris county jail is huge. There is no suggestion they were even in the same wing, and certainly no rape took place there.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday July 25 2016, @05:58PM
Oh... oops. I got that wrong when I look at the details.
local hospital for mental health treatment
booking her into Harris County Jail
I was visualizing my home town where the multibuilding courthouse and jail complex has a mental health building that's the only specifically mental hospital in the area leading me to think this woman in TX was more or less in the same cell the whole time. Which is probably unusual.
The Harris County Jail psychiatric staff
Hmm so they have a mental health hospital thats not next door to the jail that she went to first, but the jail has mental health staff who are none the less not in a mental hospital.
Why would they have booked a diagnosed mentally ill person into the regular jail instead of into the mental health wing? I guess that's yet another problem, either with what they did or with her story.