Violence in prison doesn’t shock us. Violent people are placed together into violent surroundings, and the result – more violence.

It’s easy to turn away, to avoid the truth, to believe people in jail, ultimately, get what they deserve. That’s wrong.

John J. Geoghan, a former Catholic priest and convicted child molester, was murdered Saturday in a Massachusetts prison. He was stomped and choked to death by another inmate, a self-professed homophobe serving a life sentence for strangling an elderly man in 1988.

Prison officials in Massachusetts should be held accountable for this attack and the circumstance that allowed it. But the blame does not stop at one prison. We are all complicit.

Geoghan’s death occurred while under protective custody. He had been transferred from another prison because of threats and intimidation. Some protection.

It’s difficult to pity Geoghan, a man who abused his position of authority and the trust placed in him. Geoghan was tried, convicted and jailed. Despite the vulgarity of his crime, he was not sentenced to a term of torture, nor given a death sentence. But that’s exactly what he received. Frail, vulnerable and 68 years old, Geoghan was an easy target.

While Geoghan’s murder draws attention, the problem of prison violence, in all of its manifestations, goes largely unreported and undiscussed. When a soda commercial or movie eludes to extra-curricular punishment in prison, there’s a wink and a nod. Of course we know what they’re talking about.

Prison rape, for both male and female prisoners, intimidation and forced servitude are common behind bars. Some estimates say that as many as 13 percent of all inmates are sexually assaulted while serving time. The young, physically weak and mentally ill are especially at risk. With more than 2 million people incarcerated nationally, prison violence cannot be ignored.

Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia describes the case of a 19-year-old serving a weekend sentence for a marijuana conviction. “Here he is processed into jail on a Friday afternoon and is raped a few hours later by his cell mate. It’s tragic. I have heard too many similar stories unfolding across the country of both men and women being raped in prison.”

Like other victims, this teen left prison physically and emotionally damaged, prone to violent outbursts.

Legislation sponsored by Wolf and passed by both the House and Senate awaits the president’s signature. The Prison Rape Elimination Act is an important step in understanding and preventing sexual assaults in prison. The president should sign this bill.

Prison populations are climbing, but budgetary limitations lead to short-staffed facilities, poor training, overcrowding and questionable practices, all of which help create fertile ground for abuse. In the case of Geoghan’s death, the protective custody unit had only one guard to supervise more than 20 inmates. The lone guard stood helplessly while Geoghan’s life was taken, locked out of the cell by a murderer’s careful planning.

Murder, rape, torture, intimidation and slavery should offend our collective sense of justice, even if the victims are themselves criminals. We snicker at the jokes and innuendoes, tolerate the violence and the sexual predators, and sleep better at night because we believe our streets are safer.

Meanwhile, men and women, real people, some of whom have done terrible things, are tortured and die while in our custody. Like it or not, these people are our responsibility. When we lock them up, we can’t just forget about them. Ninety-five percent of those incarcerated are eventually released, and they carry with them the scars from the violence we allow.

Society pays a high price when we fail to protect those under our care.
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