Originally a comment by Peter N on Backstabbers.

For the record, I’ve been pen-pals with half a dozen federal inmates going back something like 15 years, and I volunteered in a state prison for ten years. I’ve also been active in a local prisoner support group for three years. In all of that, I’ve never heard any first-hand report of rape in prisons. I don’t question that things were very bad in the past, and may remain so in some locations, but it seems to me that today prisons are very, very motivated to avoid rape. Indeed as a volunteer I had to take an anti-rape class mandated by federal law, and re-qualify every year.

What I have heard about is soi-disant trans prisoners. There are apparently a fair number of them. I asked one of my correspondents about that, and what annoys him is that they get cosmetics sold through the prison commissary, clothing options not available to everybody, and yes, “gender-affirming healthcare”. He says they’re generally treated quite well, but he resents that they get extra privileges. Not that my friend is particularly in need of cosmetics, but it’s the principle of the thing — why do they get extra stuff and the rest of them don’t?