"Misty"

I want to get into an extremely touchy subject within the world of law enforcement now: Homophobia. Within the large circle of deputies I knew and worked with in the jail, the term Homo meant Homosexual, Transvestite, Transsexual, Cross-Dresser, and Female Impersonator. In their minds there was no real distinction between these types; they were all just Homos. There was such a stigma to the term that most of the deputies sort of spat it out as if the word tasted nasty and simply could not be tolerated.

I suppose I shouldn’t limit this response to deputies alone. Most of the straight men I know feel the same way and have no tolerance or understanding for any life style that doesn’t include locker rooms, girl watching, and deep-fried pork rinds. If a man has a speech impediment or walks just slightly too gracefully he is a definite threat. God forbid he might wear a pink flowered shirt or happen to enjoy Broadway musicals.

This is okay. Really, it is. I love these guys and I understand their phobias. I’m not sure they understand why they are so threatened by effeminate men, but that’s beside the point. It’s the way it has always been, is now, and forever will be. Real men are manly. Real men like to make jokes about big bosoms, eat melt-down-spicy hot wings, watch women wrestle in tubs of mud, attend movies starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, and drink cold beer for breakfast. Real men simply do not eat snow-cones; listen to Broadway Sound tracks; watch movies like Steel Magnolias; enjoy a good talk about personal issues, or dance (except western two-steps).
In the world of inmates the feelings seem to be pretty much the same. All jails and prisons in America keep their child molesters, sex offenders and known homosexuals and transsexuals separate from the general population because of the harm they would no doubt come to at the hands of the other inmates. It is okay to rob, cheat, steal, sell drugs (even to kids) and to kill people, but it is not okay to molest a child or rape a woman. The old expression “There is honor among thieves” does have its limits.

Well, sort of. I say this because it has been my experience that these manly men, who will kill a child molester or beat a gay man to death if there is one in the vicinity, will often be involved in raping and/or sodomizing another helpless inmate. It goes on all the time but is usually never reported because the victim is too terrified to say anything.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am in no way condoning child molestation or abuse. It is the most heinous crime I can imagine and I cannot think of a punishment suitable enough for the men who do it. Statistics show most child molesters are Caucasian men while child abusers are men & women of all races, but the fact of the matter is that child molesters are virtually never gay men. Homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals are typically gentle, inoffensive people who would not harm a child if their very lives depended on it. The hatred and violence enacted upon them by other inmates, and by some of society in general, is directed at their lifestyle and their personalities, not any harmful actions on their parts.

Unfortunately, in the jails and prisons they are often lumped together with the child molesters because no one knows where to place them for their own safety. Their crimes are rarely violent; usually drug or alcohol related or having to do with prostitution or theft. If left alone, they seldom cause trouble, initiate fights or break the facility rules. Violence is not a part of their makeup.

“Misty” came into the booking area on one summer evening in 1992 if memory serves me. She had long, flowing blond hair, was tall and lithe, wearing black spandex pants which left nothing to the imagination, and a lacey crop top which showed her trim midriff quite nicely. She had been arrested for prostitution and also had a warrant out of Phoenix for the same offense so we knew she would be with us for awhile.

Male officers do not generally frisk female prisoners as thoroughly as they would a male prisoner for obvious reasons. The exception to this is if the female is suspected of drugs or weapons but Misty had none of those types of charges. This being the case they left the strip search to one of the female detention officers. Not myself as I was working at the booking desk. The privilege went to Lena, a young officer who had done a lot of Reserve Deputy work for the Sheriff’s Office but had not been working in Detention for very long. Lena was pretty well-versed in the world of criminals and jails and most anything to do with law enforcement, but she was not prepared for what she was about to encounter....