The jokes about prison rape have persisted for years: “Don’t drop the soap in shower”; “Bubba is waiting for you.” A commercial for a local bail business shows someone in a holding cell, with others goggling at him.

The reality is that prison rape is … reality. It’s such a reality that Congress in 2003 passed the “Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.” This was pretty remarkable, for a couple of reasons. First, Congress and state legislatures have killed anything even hinting at sympathy for inmates or prison reform. Second, by passing the act, Congress finally admits that prison rape is not just fodder for comedians but is a real problem.

Prison rape is a gay issue because reports indicate that openly gay men are far more likely to be sexually assaulted, and their claims of abuse are more likely to be ignored by prison officials.

All victims of sexual violence behind bars have had little recourse. Those who sue prison officials are unsuccessful because the Supreme Court held in 1994 that the victims have to show prison officials displayed “deliberate indifference” to a “substantial risk” of harm. The standard is virtually insurmountable. There have been cases where prison officials place nonviolent offenders with sexual predators. But proving officials did the act deliberately to harm the victim has been tough.

Reporting in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, researchers reported that prison rape has been around forever but the problem has gotten worse, largely because of prison overcrowding and under-staffing and supervision. Congressional findings estimate that the number of inmates sexually assaulted over the past 20 years exceeds one million. Anonymous survey reports from inmates show 25 percent reporting some form of sexual coercion (e.g., aggressive behaviors, propositions and touching), while 11 percent report having been raped.

The places with highest rate of incidence of rape are those housing violent offenders along with so-called “blue collar” crimes like drug dealing, burglary and embezzlement.

These victims and their families have spurred action. As a result of rape, the nonviolent victims often become violent aggressors while in jail and after release. Some resort to raping others in prison to prevent their own rapes. Some contract HIV and other STDs. Many commit suicide; and virtually all need counseling. If compassion for others didn’t sway members of Congress, the costs of caring for people with AIDS and other healthcare costs caught their attention.

Unfortunately, the congressional act doesn’t necessarily do much immediately to stop prison rape. First, the act requires prisons to conduct annual surveys to gauge the incidence and impact of prison rape. The act also requires the Department of Justice to establish a Prison Rape Review Panel to conduct public hearings about the prison rape. More importantly, the act sets up a National Prison Rape Reduction Commission, which will provide standards to the attorney general who will then adopt rules with regard to deterring and punishing prison rape.

It’s important that GLBT rights groups lobby the commission and federal officials to, if requested by the inmate, segregate self-identified gay and bisexual men, and transgender folks, from other offenders in prisons. These individuals are more likely to suffer abuse because inmates view them as vulnerable and unlikely to have their complaints taken seriously by prison officials. Today, GLBT inmates are unlikely to identify themselves to jail officials for fear that, by doing so, homophobic officials may house them with inmates who will most certainly harm them.

While there are no sound statistics on the number of gay inmates in the 2 million prison population, judging from anecdotal reports it’s a sizeable population. As I’ve reported previously, the self-identified jail population in Los Angeles is so large that the sheriff has established a dorm housing hundreds of inmates. The L.A. sheriff reports that gay inmates, surprisingly, have a high recidivism rate, much higher than nongay men.

In my own involvement in the gay community, I’ve met serial murderers (Andrew Cunanan) and lots of people convicted of drug crimes and so called “white collar” crimes (e.g., embezzlement). Prison life for any person is no picnic. But to compound confinement with rape is simply cruel and inhumane.