I've decided to barter things on my website. Make me an offer! Also, in other news, here's a press release from Stop Prisoner Rape:
September 22, 2005
SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Sexual
Abuse in Detention Elimination Act (AB 550), which passed the California
Legislature on September 7. The legislation, now cited as Chapter 303,
Statutes of 2005, lays the foundation for California, the largest prison
system in the country, to be a national leader in the fight to end
prisoner rape.

“The passage of this law is a significant milestone for California,
finally giving this all-too-common human rights violation the attention
it deserves in our state. We applaud the governor for signing it and
legislators of both parties who supported its passage,” said Katherine
Hall-Martinez, a spokesperson for Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR), a Los
Angeles-based national human rights organization.
The legislation’s general purpose is to prevent, reduce, and effectively
respond to sexual abuse of inmates and wards while held in detention
facilities operated by the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR). Among the legislation’s specific purposes are
that the CDCR do the following:
• Provide inmates and wards with informational handbooks regarding
sexual abuse in detention;
• Adopt specified policies, practices, and protocols related to the
placement of inmates, physical and mental health care of inmate victims,
and investigation of sexual abuse;
• Ensure accurate data collection concerning sexual abuse across all
institutions which is accessible to the public; and
• Develop guidelines for the provision of resources and counseling from
outside organizations to inmates and wards.
The legislation also creates the Office of the Sexual Abuse in Detention
Ombudsperson to ensure confidential reporting and impartial resolution
of sexual abuse complaints in CDCR facilities.

The law was designed to assist California in complying with the federal
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003. PREA was the first-ever
federal legislation addressing prisoner rape, passed with overwhelming
bipartisan support and signed into law by President George W. Bush.

While there are few reliable statistics on prisoner rape, studies in the
U.S. have estimated that one in five male inmates have been sexually
abused, usually by another inmate. Rates for women, who are most likely
to be abused by male staff, reach as high as one in four in some
facilities. According to a recent U.S. Bureau of Justice report, in 2004
alone, 149 California prisoners stepped forward to report being sexually
assaulted, despite many factors that deter their reports to officials.

“Prisoner rape is a longstanding and ongoing problem in California’s
prisons, as it is around the country. Provided it is fully implemented,
this legislation has the potential to pierce the veil of silence
surrounding prisoner rape and, ultimately, to lower its incidence in
California,” Hall-Martinez added.