Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003
Encyclopedia
The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) is the first United States federal law passed dealing with the sexual assault of prisoners. The bill was signed into law on September 4, 2003.
is a relatively recent development and estimates to its prevalence have varied widely for decades. In 1974 Carl Weiss and David James Friar wrote that 46 million Americans would one day be incarcerated; of that number, they claimed, 10 million would be raped. A 1992 estimate from the Federal Bureau of Prisons
conjectured that between 9 and 20 percent of inmates had been sexually assaulted. Studies in 1982 and 1996 both concluded that the rate was somewhere between 12 and 14 percent; the 1996 study, by Cindy Struckman-Johnson
, concluded that 18 percent of assaults were carried out by prison staff. A 1986 study by Daniel Lockwood put the number at around 23 percent for maximum security prisons in New York. In contrast, Christine Saum's 1994 survey of 101 inmates showed 5 had been sexually assaulted.
In 2001 Human Rights Watch
released a paper, titled "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons
". The release of that paper was the single event that contributed most to the passage of PREA two years later. Human Rights Watch had published several papers on the topic of prison rape in the years since its initial report on the topic in 1996. The 1996 paper "All too Familiar:
Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons" was released during a time when there was almost no Congressional support for legislation aimed at prison rape
. A 1998 attempt by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) known as the Custodial Sexual Abuse Act of 1998 was attached to the reauthorization bill for the Violence Against Women Act
but summarily removed and never reintroduced.
Michael Horowitz
has also been credited with playing a large part in the passage of PREA. Horowitz, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
led a part of the broad coalition of the bill's supporters.
. These groups were part of a diverse coalition of human rights and religious groups which backed the legislation; other groups which supported the act were: Amnesty International USA
, Focus on the Family
, Human Rights Watch
, the NAACP, the National Association of Evangelicals
, Penal Reform International
, Physicians for Human Rights
, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Salvation Army
and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
The bill was sponsored, in both houses of the U.S. Congress, by a bipartisan group of legislators. The initial sponsors of the bill in the Senate
were Jeff Sessions
(R-AL) and, in the House of Representatives
the legislation was sponsored by Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep. Bobby Scott
(D-VA), who was the initial co-sponsor. The Senate bill picked up four co-sponsors on the day it was passed, they were: Senators Mike Dewine
(R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Edward Kennedy
(D-MA), and Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA). The house bill had a total of 32 co-sponsors, including Scott. The bill passed both the House and Senate by unanimous consent
; it passed the Senate on July 21, 2003, and the House on July 25.
in a White House
ceremony on September 4, 2003. The act aimed to curb prison rape through a "zero-tolerance" policy, as well as through research and information gathering. The act called for developing national standards to prevent incidents of sexual violence in prison. It also made policies more available and obvious. By making data on prison rape more available to the prison administrators as well as making corrections facilities more accountable for incidents pertaining to sexual violence and of prison rape it would more than likely decrease the crime(s).
A major component of the PREA was the establishment of a "National Prison Rape Reduction Commission". The panel was established by the act and appointed in June 2004, though the law itself called for the commission's creation within 60 days of its passage. The panel, known as the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
(NPREC), was charged with undertaking a study on the comprehensive effects of prison rape and its occurrences. The commission was also charged with information gathering through a variety of sources including public hearings. Eventually the commission will issue a report which includes its findings, conclusions and any recommendations.
In addition the law mandated that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) "make the prevention of prison rape a top priority in each prison system." The DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics was mandated to produce an annual report on its activities concerning the topic of prison rape in the U.S. prison system. The law also made several other mandates for the DOJ. The National Institute of Corrections
(NIC) was ordered to offer training and technical assistance, provide a clearinghouse for information and produce its own annual report to Congress. PREA required the DOJ to create a review panel designed to conduct hearings on prison rape, this panel was given subpoena power as well. At the top of the Justice Department PREA authorized the Attorney General to dispense grant money to facilitate implementation of the act. These grants are administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance
(BJA) and the National Institute of Justice
(NIJ).
Representative Danny K. Davis
(D-IL) introduced the Second Chance Act of 2007 on March 20 of that year, among its provisions was an amendment to PREA. The miscellaneous provisions of what was largely a law designed to help reintegrate criminal offenders into the community, extended the existence of the NPREC from 3 years to 5 years after its inception date. The Senate version was introduced 9 days later and sponsored by then Senator Joe Biden
(D-DE). The Second Chance Act passed the House 347 - 62 on November 13, 2007. The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on March 11, 2008 and the life of the NPREC was extended when Bush signed the Second Chance Act of 2007 on April 9, 2008.
from two parts of section 7 of PREA. Section 7 deals with access for the NPREC to any federal department or agency's information that it deemed necessary to complete its job. The two specific sections that the signing statement allowed the executive branch to ignore if "disclosure could impair deliberative processes of the Executive or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties" were 7(h) and 7(k)3. The signing statement maintained that this was within the constitutional authority of the president.
" quite broadly, as "any federal, state, or local confinement facility, including local jails, police lockups, juvenile facilities, and state and federal prisons." Thus, short-term lockups, such as holding facilities, and local jail
s, regardless of size, are also subject to the provisions of PREA. Failure by local authorities and operators of such facilities to comply with the provisions of PREA results in a 5% reduction in federal funding to that agency for each year they fail to comply.
s for a wide variety of implementation associated activities. The grants can be utilized by state agencies for personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and equipment to prevent, investigate, and prosecute prison rape. Each state recipient is required to submit a report within 90 days laying out on what activities the money was spent on as well as the effect of those activities on prison rape within the state. In 2004 Congress appropriated US$25 million dollars for the grant program and in 2005 US$20 million. The BJA handed out $10 million of the 2004 appropriation in the fourth quarter of that year. The largest grant amount that year, $1 million, was handed out to the Department of Corrections
in Iowa
, Michigan
, New York, Texas
and Washington.
published its 2006 report about rapes and sexual violence in American prisons. The report, which included information obtained from about 1.3 million prisoners, reported 60,500 cases of sexual violence ranging from unwanted touching to rape in 2006. In total, 4.5 percent of American prisoners reported an incident of sexual violence in the study.
. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape. The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000." These numbers were derived based on the "testimony of social scientists and penologists".
One study, initially released in January 2006 before being finalized or peer reviewed, by Mark Fleisher at Case Western Reserve University
showed that prison rape was rarer than estimated. Fleisher's study reported that most prisoners who claim to have been raped are looking for money, publicity, a transfer, or lying. The study was immediately questioned and disputed by members of NPREC. Both Reggie B. Walton, NPREC chair, and commissioner Cindy Struckman-Johnson spoke out against the study, with Struckman-Johnson calling it unscientific. Fleisher released a substantially revised version of the report in November 2006, Stop Prisoner Rape (now Just Detention International) stated it was "still plagued by many of the same fundamental flaws as the initial version."
Robert Weisberg
, co-writing with David Mills, argued in Slate
in October 2003 that PREA did little more than collect data. They argued that the bill's original title, the "Prison Rape Reduction Act", was probably a more likely predictor of its outcome. A similar position was put forth by Mike Farrell
, writing in The Huffington Post
, where he stated, "the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission meets periodically to 'study the impact of prisoner rape.' While they study, rape continues."
Background
Public awareness of the phenomenon of prison rapePrison rape
Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff.In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates had been raped while incarcerated. and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race...
is a relatively recent development and estimates to its prevalence have varied widely for decades. In 1974 Carl Weiss and David James Friar wrote that 46 million Americans would one day be incarcerated; of that number, they claimed, 10 million would be raped. A 1992 estimate from the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
conjectured that between 9 and 20 percent of inmates had been sexually assaulted. Studies in 1982 and 1996 both concluded that the rate was somewhere between 12 and 14 percent; the 1996 study, by Cindy Struckman-Johnson
Cindy Struckman-Johnson
Cindy Struckman-Johnson is a professor of psychology at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. She is also a commissioner on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission.-Education:...
, concluded that 18 percent of assaults were carried out by prison staff. A 1986 study by Daniel Lockwood put the number at around 23 percent for maximum security prisons in New York. In contrast, Christine Saum's 1994 survey of 101 inmates showed 5 had been sexually assaulted.
In 2001 Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
released a paper, titled "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons is the title of an influential, book length, 2001 report by Human Rights Watch on prison rape in the United States...
". The release of that paper was the single event that contributed most to the passage of PREA two years later. Human Rights Watch had published several papers on the topic of prison rape in the years since its initial report on the topic in 1996. The 1996 paper "All too Familiar:
Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons" was released during a time when there was almost no Congressional support for legislation aimed at prison rape
Prison rape
Prison rape commonly refers to the rape of inmates in prison by other inmates or prison staff.In 2001, Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 140,000 inmates had been raped while incarcerated. and there is a significant variation in the rates of prison rape by race...
. A 1998 attempt by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) known as the Custodial Sexual Abuse Act of 1998 was attached to the reauthorization bill for the Violence Against Women Act
Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is a United States federal law. It was passed as Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, , and signed as by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994...
but summarily removed and never reintroduced.
Michael Horowitz
Michael Horowitz
*For the British poet, see Michael Horovitz.*For the U.S. electrical engineer see Michael J. HorowitzMichael Horowitz is an American author and archivist in San Francisco....
has also been credited with playing a large part in the passage of PREA. Horowitz, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is an American think tank founded in 1961, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation...
led a part of the broad coalition of the bill's supporters.
Support and lobby
The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 was supported by a broad base of activists, lobbyists, and organizations, particularly Just Detention International. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission lobbied for the passage of the legislation as did the conservative organization Concerned Women for AmericaConcerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
. These groups were part of a diverse coalition of human rights and religious groups which backed the legislation; other groups which supported the act were: Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International USA is one of many country sections that make up Amnesty International worldwide.Amnesty International is an organization of more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, with complete independence from government, corporate or national...
, Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, the NAACP, the National Association of Evangelicals
National Association of Evangelicals
The National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States. Today it works in four main areas: Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations,...
, Penal Reform International
Penal Reform International
Penal Reform International was founded in London in 1989, and has members in five continents and in over 80 countries. PRI is an international non-governmental organisation working on penal and criminal justice reform worldwide...
, Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights was founded in 1986 by a small group of doctors who believed the unique scientific expertise and authority of health professionals could bring human rights violations to light and provide justice for victims...
, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
The bill was sponsored, in both houses of the U.S. Congress, by a bipartisan group of legislators. The initial sponsors of the bill in the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
were Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions
Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party...
(R-AL) and, in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
the legislation was sponsored by Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep. Bobby Scott
Robert C. Scott
Robert Cortez "Bobby" Scott is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
(D-VA), who was the initial co-sponsor. The Senate bill picked up four co-sponsors on the day it was passed, they were: Senators Mike Dewine
Mike DeWine
Richard Michael "Mike" DeWine is the Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He has held numerous offices on the state and federal level, including Ohio State Senator, four terms as a U.S. Congressman, Ohio Lt. Governor, and was a two-term U.S. Senator, serving from 1995 to 2007.- Biography :Born...
(R-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Edward Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
(D-MA), and Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....
(D-CA). The house bill had a total of 32 co-sponsors, including Scott. The bill passed both the House and Senate by unanimous consent
Unanimous consent
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house, is a situation in which no one present objects to a proposal. The chair may state, for instance: "If there is no objection, the motion...
; it passed the Senate on July 21, 2003, and the House on July 25.
Provisions
The Act was passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress and subsequently signed by President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
ceremony on September 4, 2003. The act aimed to curb prison rape through a "zero-tolerance" policy, as well as through research and information gathering. The act called for developing national standards to prevent incidents of sexual violence in prison. It also made policies more available and obvious. By making data on prison rape more available to the prison administrators as well as making corrections facilities more accountable for incidents pertaining to sexual violence and of prison rape it would more than likely decrease the crime(s).
A major component of the PREA was the establishment of a "National Prison Rape Reduction Commission". The panel was established by the act and appointed in June 2004, though the law itself called for the commission's creation within 60 days of its passage. The panel, known as the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission was a U.S. bipartisan panel established by the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act. The commission was charged with studying sexual assaults in U.S. jails and prisons and presenting a report based on its findings. The report was released in June 2009...
(NPREC), was charged with undertaking a study on the comprehensive effects of prison rape and its occurrences. The commission was also charged with information gathering through a variety of sources including public hearings. Eventually the commission will issue a report which includes its findings, conclusions and any recommendations.
In addition the law mandated that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) "make the prevention of prison rape a top priority in each prison system." The DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics was mandated to produce an annual report on its activities concerning the topic of prison rape in the U.S. prison system. The law also made several other mandates for the DOJ. The National Institute of Corrections
National Institute of Corrections
The National Institute of Corrections is an agency of the United States government. It is part of the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons....
(NIC) was ordered to offer training and technical assistance, provide a clearinghouse for information and produce its own annual report to Congress. PREA required the DOJ to create a review panel designed to conduct hearings on prison rape, this panel was given subpoena power as well. At the top of the Justice Department PREA authorized the Attorney General to dispense grant money to facilitate implementation of the act. These grants are administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance
Bureau of Justice Assistance
The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, within the United States Department of Justice.On Monday, December 13, 2010, President Barack Obama sent to the U.S. Senate the nomination of Denise Ellen O'Donnell, of New York, to be the Director of the Bureau, in...
(BJA) and the National Institute of Justice
National Institute of Justice
The National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics , Bureau of Justice Assistance , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , Office for Victims of Crime ,...
(NIJ).
Representative Danny K. Davis
Danny K. Davis
For other persons named Danny Davis, please see Daniel Davis .Daniel K. Davis is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
(D-IL) introduced the Second Chance Act of 2007 on March 20 of that year, among its provisions was an amendment to PREA. The miscellaneous provisions of what was largely a law designed to help reintegrate criminal offenders into the community, extended the existence of the NPREC from 3 years to 5 years after its inception date. The Senate version was introduced 9 days later and sponsored by then Senator Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
(D-DE). The Second Chance Act passed the House 347 - 62 on November 13, 2007. The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on March 11, 2008 and the life of the NPREC was extended when Bush signed the Second Chance Act of 2007 on April 9, 2008.
Juvenile justice
PREA covers all adult, as well as juvenile detention facilities; the definition of prison for the purposes of the act includes "any juvenile facility used for the custody or care of juvenile inmates." U.S. Congress, within the text of PREA, noted that young, first-time offenders are at an increased risk for sexually motivated crimes. Juveniles held in adult facilities are five times more likely sexually assaulted than juveniles held in juvenile facilities.Signing statement
Upon signing PREA President Bush issued a signing statement to accompany the law's passage. The signing statement specifically exempted the executive branchExecutive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
from two parts of section 7 of PREA. Section 7 deals with access for the NPREC to any federal department or agency's information that it deemed necessary to complete its job. The two specific sections that the signing statement allowed the executive branch to ignore if "disclosure could impair deliberative processes of the Executive or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties" were 7(h) and 7(k)3. The signing statement maintained that this was within the constitutional authority of the president.
Temporary lock-ups
PREA defines "prisonPrison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
" quite broadly, as "any federal, state, or local confinement facility, including local jails, police lockups, juvenile facilities, and state and federal prisons." Thus, short-term lockups, such as holding facilities, and local jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
s, regardless of size, are also subject to the provisions of PREA. Failure by local authorities and operators of such facilities to comply with the provisions of PREA results in a 5% reduction in federal funding to that agency for each year they fail to comply.
Grants
PREA authorizes money in the form of grantGrant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
s for a wide variety of implementation associated activities. The grants can be utilized by state agencies for personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and equipment to prevent, investigate, and prosecute prison rape. Each state recipient is required to submit a report within 90 days laying out on what activities the money was spent on as well as the effect of those activities on prison rape within the state. In 2004 Congress appropriated US$25 million dollars for the grant program and in 2005 US$20 million. The BJA handed out $10 million of the 2004 appropriation in the fourth quarter of that year. The largest grant amount that year, $1 million, was handed out to the Department of Corrections
Department of Corrections
A Department of Corrections is a governmental agency responsible for overseeing the incarceration of persons convicted of crimes within a particular jurisdiction. Entities serving that purpose include:* Department of Corrections...
in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, New York, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Washington.
Immigration detention centers
PREA also applies to all federal immigration detention centers. In December 2006, NPREC held two days of hearings focusing on sexual violence and rape in immigration detention facilities. During the hearings they heard testimony from a female victim of sexual assault in an immigration facility as well as testimony from prison staff. The panel issued a statement reiterating that its policy of "zero-tolerance" applied to federal immigration facilities. In oral statements made by the U.S. delegation to the Committee Against Torture in 2006, Thomas Manheim with the U.S. DOJ responded to queries by Nora Sveaass about the implementation of PREA in immigration detention facilities. Some of the steps Manheim asserted Department of Homeland Security has taken included the development of a classification system to segregate violent and non-violent offenders, "widespread posting of instructions on how to report sexual misconduct", and PREA training for detention officers in the facilities.Juvenile facilities
NPREC held hearings focusing specifically on the elimination of juvenile prison rape victims on June 1, 2006. Individual states have sought to comply with the mandates of PREA concerning juveniles, for instance, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services worked with consultants from the Moss Group, Inc. to develop PREA policies and training.Annual reports
In December 2007 United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
published its 2006 report about rapes and sexual violence in American prisons. The report, which included information obtained from about 1.3 million prisoners, reported 60,500 cases of sexual violence ranging from unwanted touching to rape in 2006. In total, 4.5 percent of American prisoners reported an incident of sexual violence in the study.
Congressional findings
The U.S. Congress, within the text of PREA, conservatively estimated that at least 13 percent of the inmates in the United States have been sexually assaulted in prisonPrison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Under this estimate, nearly 200,000 inmates now incarcerated have been or will be the victims of prison rape. The total number of inmates who have been sexually assaulted in the past 20 years likely exceeds 1,000,000." These numbers were derived based on the "testimony of social scientists and penologists".
Contracted research
PREA mandated that the NIJ provide funding for research conducted by private contractors, considered experts within the field. In 2006 alone, NIJ funded three major studies of sexual assault in prison.One study, initially released in January 2006 before being finalized or peer reviewed, by Mark Fleisher at Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
showed that prison rape was rarer than estimated. Fleisher's study reported that most prisoners who claim to have been raped are looking for money, publicity, a transfer, or lying. The study was immediately questioned and disputed by members of NPREC. Both Reggie B. Walton, NPREC chair, and commissioner Cindy Struckman-Johnson spoke out against the study, with Struckman-Johnson calling it unscientific. Fleisher released a substantially revised version of the report in November 2006, Stop Prisoner Rape (now Just Detention International) stated it was "still plagued by many of the same fundamental flaws as the initial version."
Reaction
The speed with which the bill passed, and the fact it was passed without public pressure has been called "surprising". PREA went through both houses in July 2003, was presented to the president on September 2, 2003 and signed two days later. Human Rights Watch urged President Bush to sign the bill, and stated that if it were implemented correctly it would "catalyze nationwide efforts to eliminate prison rape by inmates and correctional staff."Robert Weisberg
Robert Weisberg
Robert Weisberg is an Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and an expert on criminal law and procedure, and a leading scholar in the law and literature movement.-Biography:...
, co-writing with David Mills, argued in Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
in October 2003 that PREA did little more than collect data. They argued that the bill's original title, the "Prison Rape Reduction Act", was probably a more likely predictor of its outcome. A similar position was put forth by Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell
Michael Joseph "Mike" Farrell is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H . He is an activist for politically liberal causes....
, writing in The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, where he stated, "the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission meets periodically to 'study the impact of prisoner rape.' While they study, rape continues."
Further reading
- Beck, Allen J., et al. "Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2006", (PDF), Bureau of Justice Statistics, August 2007, accessed on June 5, 2008.
- Fleisher, Mark and Krienert, Jesse. "The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence", (PDF), November 2006, National Institute of JusticeNational Institute of JusticeThe National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics , Bureau of Justice Assistance , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , Office for Victims of Crime ,...
, accessed June 5, 2008. - Mariner, Joanne, et al. No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons", Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, 2001, ISBN 1564322580, accessed June 5, 2008. - Ristroph, Alice, "Sexual Punishments", (Abstract w/ link to document), Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. 15, No. 139, 2006, accessed June 5, 2008.
- Smith, Brenda V. and Yarussi, Jamie M. "Prosecuting Sexual Violence in Correctional Settings: Examining Prosecutors' Perceptions", (Abstract w/ link to document), Criminal Law Brief Spring 2008, American UniversityAmerican UniversityAmerican University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
: Washington College of LawWashington College of LawAmerican University Washington College of Law is the law school of American University. It is located on Massachusetts Avenue in the Spring Valley neighborhood of northwest Washington. WCL is ranked 50th among law schools by US News and World Report...
, WCL Research Paper No. 2008-50, accessed June 5, 2008. - Thomas, Dorothy Q., et al. "All too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons", Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
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External links
- PREA - National Inst. of Corrections, National Institute of CorrectionsNational Institute of CorrectionsThe National Institute of Corrections is an agency of the United States government. It is part of the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons....
, accessed June 5, 2008. - Prison Rape Elimination Act Resources, Office of Justice ProgramsOffice of Justice ProgramsThe Office of Justice Programs is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state and local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies through grants, and assistance to crime victims.The major bureaus...
, U.S. Department of Justice, accessed June 5, 2008. - National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, official site, accessed June 5, 2008.