I'm sure you all remember the sickening, revolting case of Jamie Leigh Jones, the KBR contractor who was kidnapped, drugged, gang-raped, beaten and imprisoned by her co-workers overseas.
She was then effectively gang-raped again by KBR, which invoked a clause in her contract which prevented her from suing the company for the extremely hostile work environment, enabling her attackers before, during and after her assault and imprisonment.
She was finally rescued thanks to one of her "guards" having the briefest moments of human decency and her congressman having (for a Republican) the briefest moment of clarity. She then went on to have the all-too-fleeting moment of victory when Sen. Al Franken spearheaded an amendment in the U.S. Senate which prevented the Federal Government from contracting with any corporation which included clauses in their employee contracts that prevented employees from suing for being gang-raped.
And yes, I can't believe that the preceding sentence even had to be typed.
Here's the exchange between Franken and a toady arbitration lawyer from a year and a half ago; trust me, this is the most riveting clip you'll see today:
In any event, all of this meant that at long last, Jamie Leigh Jones was finally able to bring her civil case to trial.
Which brings me to the most depressing, bone-chillingly wrong-on-so-many-levels headline I've ever had to read:
Jamie Leigh Jones Loses Rape Case
A Houston jury rejected all of Jamie Leigh Jones' claims today, including that she was raped by Charles Boartz and that she was defrauded by KBR.
Boartz had contended that the sex, which occurred in Iraq while Jones was blacked out, was consensual. KBR had denied creating a sexually hostile work environment, and it brought evidence that questioned Jones' history of mental health issues and sexual assault accusations. Jones' case became famous when taken up by members of Congress, who changed the law so that government contractors couldn't force sexual harassment and assault disputes into arbitration rather than adjudicated through the justice system.
I don't have time right now to go into an in-depth response; fortunately, this article says it better than I ever could:
What the Jamie Leigh Jones Verdict Says About Rape Culture
Instead, the jury found it was more likely than not that Jones consented to sex while unconscious. The jury found it was more likely than not that Jones’ bleeding and fissured vagina and anus were the result of consensual sex that took place while she was unconscious and that it was more likely than not that, in short, Jones is a liar.
Make no mistake about it, Jones was punished in Texas. She was punished for being a woman in the rough-and-tumble world of private defense contracting where consent to sex can happen while passed out and where employers have no duty to provide a safe work environment free from assault. She was punished for being a woman who had the audacity to speak out against her treatment to Congress, to demand an investigation into private security contracting and to step forward as an example for other women.
You see, according to the folks in Houston, Jones had it coming.
My stomach hurts.
Update: OK, this is the first chance I've had to check in since I originally posted the diary. Obviously I'm very glad to see it hit the Rec list; I'm obviously appalled by the outcome of the trial, especially after this ugly incident having wound such a long path to get here, and I cannot stress how important it is that as many people as possible know about it.
Now, I see that there's been an article posted in Mother Jones--not exactly a source which one would normally expect to be biased in favor of military contractors--which basically trashes Ms. Jones' accusations, picking apart most of her accusations with various claims/evidence as it was apparently presented in the course of the trial.
However, there's also been plenty of discussion on the MJ article and the claims therein ranging from the fact that most of the counter-claims were taken directly from KBR sources to the fact that even if every single one of their counter-claims are taken at face value, it still paints a pretty repulsive picture of KBR. There's also the matter of the "missing" forensic evidence and so forth. Others have presented these points far more vividly than I could, so there's no point in me rehashing them; let me just say that I've followed this story pretty closely and my take on it remains that this was an utter travesty of justice somewhere along the lines, whether at the prosecution, juror, judge or other level.
As many of you know, HBO aired an important documentary just a couple of weeks ago called Hot Coffee which covers 4 civil cases--one of which happens to be that of Jamie Leigh Jones. Here's the trailer:
Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now. Meanwhile, here's the website for the Jamie Leigh Jones Foundation:
The Jamie Leigh Foundation is an official 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to helping United States citizens and legal residents who are victims of crime while working abroad for government contractors and subcontractors. We demand government contract corporations and government entities to act responsibly, and be held accountable to provide a work environment free of sexual harassment, and limit the potential for abuse. We insist contractors to disclose criminal activity to employees and prospective employees so that they can make educated decisions regarding their safety. We work toward the day when all US citizen contractors will be able to work without fear, consternation, and safety concerns.
If you'd like to make a donation to the Foundation, here's the link to do so.