Rape and Consensual Sex in Male Israeli Prisons: Are There Differences With Western Prisons?

Prisons deprive male inmates of heterosexual relationships and, thus, prevent them from asserting their masculinity via "traditional" means. Accordingly, many prisoners experience extreme emotional, psychological, and physical distress, which can lead to intimidation, aggression, and reestablishment of their sense of dominance through homosexual activities with consenting or coerced partners. This quantitative and qualitative study, based on research undertaken in a random sample of 30% of the male prisons in Israel, analyzes the neglected issue of homosexual relationships in Israeli prisons. The findings indicate that sexual harassment or homosexual rapes rarely take place in Israeli prisons and consensual homosexual relationships are rare. Furthermore, Israeli inmates view homosexual relationships in prison as disgusting and disgraceful and conceptualize them in highly negative emotional terms.