Gay jail stories
Cooma jail's dark past includes being world's only 'gay prison', podcast reveals
As celebrations ramp up ahead of Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this week, a dark part of Australia's LGBTQI+ history is being explored by a new podcast.
Key points:
- The Greatest Menace podcast explores the dark past of Cooma's jail
- The site reopened in the 1950s as a "gay jail"
- Podcast maker says it was the world's only "gay prison"
Podcast The Greatest Menace has unearthed the truth behind the world's only "gay prison," which operated in the regional New South Wales town of Cooma from 1957 to house men convicted of homosexual offences.
The historic jail and one-time asylum closed in the first 1900s before its reopening.
Investigative journalist Patrick Abboud uncovered the revelation after spending three years investigating the town's history.
"This story, in particular, had such a profound impact on me from the beginning," Abboud said.
"When someone tells you that there was a homosexual prison designed to incarcerate gay men that in itself was shocking enough."
The Amazon p
Former prisoners share their experiences of sex in prison
The Commission on Sex in Prison’s final report, published today (Tuesday 17 March), features accounts from former prisoners speaking for the first time about their experiences of sex behind bars.
Sex in prison: Experiences of former prisoners is the fifth and ultimate briefing paper published by the Commission, which was established by the Howard League for Penal Reform and includes eminent academics, former prison governors and health experts.
Recommendations from the Commission’s two-year inquiry will be presented today (Tuesday 17 March) at a conference in London.
The Commission sought permission to interview current prisoners about their experiences of sex in prison, but this approach was blocked by the Ministry of Justice.
However, Dr Alisa Stevens, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Southampton, was qualified to interview 26 former prisoners during the summer of 2014 – 24 men and two women.
Her report concludes that a national survey of both the serving prison population and former prisoners, fully supported by but independent of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), is “urgently required” to
This article was published in collaboration with Vice.
I was walking the prison road on a sunny southern California day in 2006 when a friend I’ll call Michael joined me. He looked like he could barely hold it together. His dark complexion was ashen, and there was dried toothpaste around his mouth. When I asked him how he was doing, it took a full four seconds before he answered.
“I’m going to kill myself,” Michael said.
He said it matter-of-factly, but when I looked at him to view if he was joking, his shoulders were slumped, his head down, his eyes focused on the track immediately in front of him. I wondered if he had the same feeling I had, that any verbal misstep could end in disaster.
“Come on man,” I responded, with a lightness that I hoped hid the nervousness I felt. “Nothing could be that serious.”
“There’s a guy in my building that won’t exit me alone. He’s pressuring me to have sex with him.”
This threw me for a loop. I knew just about everybody on the Yard, and I was skeptical of his claim of exploitation. I remembered that Michael had a reputation in our circle of friends for being overly dramatic. Often, he would transport up “problems” that were just attempts to receive
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I’ve always been gay, but I’ve never been overtly effeminate. Coming from a family of several positive male role models, I never had to hide who I was, so I never did.
Like everyone, I had heard the stories about men being “turned out” in prison. As I was being booked into Orleans Parish Prison in November of 2004, I realized I was a target.
During the processing I was placed in a holding cell with nearly fifty other prisoners.
I was terrified going into the cell. So I found a quiet identify on the floor in the corner. I sat with my knees in and my arms folded with my head down, so I’m not sure how they knew I was gay. Still, a man sat next to me and put his arm around me. I attempted to spring up but another man stood over me and forcefully pushed me back down by my shoulders.
“You ain’t fighting back, is you, sweetness?” he said. I looked at him in horror as tears welled up in my eyes. The man who was standing exposed himself while the other aggressively forced me to give his friend oral sex. Out of fear, I performed oral sex on them both. Even with several people in the cell, no one said or did anything. I don’t know why I expected them to do anything.
I
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