The American prison population has increased by 408 percent since 1978. In 2014, incarcerating a single American inmate averaged $30,619.85 per year. Activists across the country have called this mass incarceration a crisis, and have demanded reform.
A recent California bill, Senate Bill 1110, attempts to address the issue by offering police officers the discretion to refer low-level offenders to social services in lieu of jail.
Intended to reduce costs and help public safety, the official bill reads that it intends to,
“…Improve public safety and reduce recidivism by increasing the availability and use of social service resources while reducing costs to law enforcement agencies and courts stemming from repeated incarceration… The bill would establish requirements for referral of people who may be arrested for, or who have a history of, low-level drug offenses or prostitution, as defined, to social services in lieu of prosecution.”
While the intent of the bill is positive, it has been met with adamant opposition from sex worker advocacy groups.
US Prostitutes Collective (US PROS) argues that sex workers should have been consulted in the creation of the bill.
“SB 1110 was drafted without input from sex workers. It goes against the demands of the sex worker movement internationally which is for decriminalization, because it treats sex work not as a job but as a disease and sex workers not as workers but as offenders in need of treatment and rehabilitation.”
In addition, sex worker advocacy groups believe that this bill poses a danger to the health and safety of sex workers by allowing police officers to have too much discretion and therefor power in their dealings with sex workers.
Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) also explained their perceived dangers.
“While we support interim reforms that lead to decriminalization, we are concerned by the possibility that LEAD funding will help expand police enforcement of prostitution laws, particularly without transparent police misconduct mechanisms, given recurring police sexual misconduct and coercion in California jurisdictions exploring LEAD and police department minimization of recent misconduct involving a minor involved in the sex trade.”
SWOP is referring to the Oakland Police Department that has been under fire for a scandal that involving child trafficking, prostitution, statutory rape, racist text messages, and a possible murder.
Officer Brendan O’Brien from the Oakland Police Department took his own life on September 25 2015. He left behind a suicide note that explained the pressure of being a suspect in his wife’s alleged suicide was wearing on him.
His suicide note detailed meeting an underage sex worker, Celeste Guap. It was not until this note was found that police officers opened an investigation into police misconduct which may involve as many as 14 Oakland police officers at this point.
Instead of referring Guap to social services, or placing her under arrest, O’Brien slept with her, and essentially passed her around the department, for fellow officers to do the same.
Celeste Guap slept with at least 31 officers, she claims, and with several of them while she was underage. The officers also provided Guap with information about undercover operations.
Oakland City Mayor Libby Schaaf commented on the incident,
“As a Mayor of Oakland I am here to run a police department not a frat house.”
With comments of that nature coming from the mayor, it’s no wonder sex workers are uneasy about the idea of allowing police officers to have additional power over their handling.
Officer O’Brien is just one example of an officer who uses his power inappropriately while dealing with a sex worker and power. In her blog, professional sex worker and sex worker advocate, Maggie McNeil, details other examples that have come to the attention of the press.
The problem isn’t just a U.S. problem, either,
Amnesty International published a report detailing human rights violations and vulnerability of sex workers which includes a disturbing amount of police harassment internationally.
As one example Amnesty International reported,
“A survey conducted by academic researchers in 2010 found that, within a six month period, 50% of sex workers in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby had been raped by clients or by the police
… Amnesty International heard harrowing testimony from those who had suffered rape and sexual abuse by the police, clients and others but who felt too afraid to report these crimes because they themselves are considered ‘illegal’. “
In response to these human rights violations Amnesty International and SWOP are asking for the full decriminalization of sex work.
Organizations including SWOP and US PROS say that simply passing bill SB 1110 as it is written will not suffice.
Featured Image: A Screenshot Via Facebook.
