Donaldson, Stephen (1946–1996)

Stephen Donaldson, the first American jailhouse rape survivor to discuss his experience publicly, spent many years of his life working to expose the problem of sexual assault in U.S. correctional institutions. He also served as the president of the group Stop Prisoner Rape from 1988 to his death in 1996.

Donaldson, who was born Robert A. Martin, Jr., in Norfolk, Virginia, lived a life of many firsts. He adopted the name Stephen Donaldson as a pseudonym for his involvement in the gay liberation movement, started the world's first gay student organizations at Columbia University in 1966, and was the first sailor publicly to fight against a discharge from the U.S. Navy for “homosexual behavior.”

In 1973, Donaldson was arrested during a Quaker antiwar pray-in at the White House. He refused to pay the $10 bail, which he believed discriminated against the poor, and instead chose to go to jail.

Donaldson was initially placed in a cellblock with other nonthreatening prisoners, including G. Gordon Liddy, who had broken into Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex that year. In his autobiography, Liddy relates what he heard happened to Donaldson when District of Columbia Jail Captain Clinton Cox transferred him to an all-black cellblock. The young, small, and white prisoner was beaten and gang-raped approximately 60 times over the next two days.

Donaldson required rectal surgery to recover from his injuries. Furious at having been set up by Cox, he called a news conference on August 24, 1973, the day of his release from the hospital. He also testified about his experience before the Washington, D.C., City Council. The Washington Star-News, writing of Donaldson's experience, called him “a man of uncommon understanding.”

Protesting his experience in the Washington, D.C., jail was the beginning of a life of work to end sexual abuse in prison. In 1984, he was named Eastern regional director for People Organized to Stop Rape of Imprisoned Persons, the group that eventually became Stop Prisoner Rape (SPR). He was named president of SPR in 1988.

Donaldson was an indefatigable researcher and prolific writer on the subject of prisoner rape. His articles and editorials appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Penthouse, and many other publications. He was the first person to collect statistical data on the incidence of prisoner rape. He joined a team of researchers, headed by Dr. Cindy Struckman-Johnson of the University of South Dakota, that concluded that from 9% to 22% of male prisoners are raped in confinement each year.

Donaldson appeared at many rallies to improve prison conditions, as well as on radio and TV. He was the focus of a 40-minute live TV interview on Good Morning San Francisco in 1985, after which the U.S. Parole Commission ordered him not to speak about jails and prisons in the media. He also appeared on Geraldo and 60 Minutes to discuss prisoner rape.

Buddhism was a serious interest for Donaldson, and he taught courses on the subject at Columbia University. He spent a year in India becoming an Advaitist Hindu monk and took the name “Lingananda,” as part of his studies.

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