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Prison-Rape Elimination Act is Signed Into Law
By Kelly M. Pyrek
Jeff Sessions |
While at least 1 in 10 prison inmates are believed to
be raped while serving time, this crime often goes unreported and is not
prosecuted. A bill signed into law on Sept. 4, 2003 by President George Bush
aims to address sexual assault inside prisons and bring to light a felony that
affects more than 1 million individuals.
S.B. 1435, the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, was sponsored by
political opposites Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.).
It establishes a bipartisan national commission to study prison rape at the
federal, state and local levels. Within two years, the commission will publish
the results of its study and make recommendations on how to reduce prison rape.
The total costs of the bill is about $60 million over a decade, with $15 to fund
a review panel, $5 million to train prison personnel, and $40 million in grants
to state and local prison systems.
“My colleague, Sen. Ted Kennedy, was chief co-sponsor of this bill. He’s
a liberal and I’m a conservative, but we both agree that punishment for a
criminal defendant should be set by a judge and should not include sexual
assault,” says Sessions, a former federal prosecutor, Alabama Attorney General
and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It is time to put an end to
prison rapes and the fear of such assaults. This bill can help us to do that.”
The legislation directs the attorney general to issue a rule for the
reduction of prison rape in federal prisons. To avoid a 5 percent reduction in
certain federal funds used for prison purposes, each state would have to adopt
the attorney general’s standards and certify that it is in compliance with
them. The state could avoid losing the 5 percent of funds by agreeing to use
those funds to come into compliance with the standards.
“This bill contains no unfunded mandate to order states how to deal with
prison rape. It does, however, require that the issue be addressed head on.”
Sessions says.
More than 2 million people were incarcerated in the United States at the end
of 2001; more than 1.3 million in federal and state prisons and more than
600,000 in county and local jails. While there is insufficient data to
thoroughly document the incidence of prison rape, experts estimate at least 13
percent of U.S. inmates have been sexually assaulted in prison, with many
inmates suffering repeated assaults. 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 million.1
According to S.B. 1435:
- Inmates with mental illness are at increased risk of
sexual victimization, and U.S. prisons house more mentally ill individuals
than all of the nation’s psychiatric hospitals combined. As many as 16 percent
of inmates in state prisons and jails, and 7 percent of federal inmates suffer
from mental illness.
- Young offenders are at increased risk of sexual victimization. Juveniles are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult rather
than juvenile facilities, often within the first 48 hours of incarceration.
- Most prison staff are not adequately trained or
prepared to prevent, report or treat inmate sexual assaults. Since prison rape
often goes unreported, victims often receive inadequate treatment for the
physical and psychological effects of sexual assault — if they receive
treatment at all.
- Prison rape exacerbates public-health risks. HIV and
AIDS are major public health problems in U.S. correctional facilities, and in
2000, 25,088 inmates were known to be infected.
- Prison rape increases the level of homicides and other
violence against inmates and staff, and the risk of insurrections and riots.
- Prison rape endangers the public by making brutalized
inmates more likely to commit crimes when they are released — as 600,000
inmates are each year.
The law also creates the National Prison Rape Reduction Commission, tasked
with making recommended national standards relating to:
- The classification and assignment of prisoners in a
manner that limits the occurrence of rape
- The investigation and resolution of rape complaints by
responsible prison authorities, local and state police, and federal and state
prosecution authorities
- The preservation of physical and testimonial evidence
for use in an investigation of the circumstances relating to the rape
- Trauma care for rape victims, including standards
relating to the manner and extent of physical examination and treatment to be
provided to any rape victim; and the manner and extent of any psychological
examination, psychiatric care, medication, and mental health counseling to be
provided to any rape victim;
- Post-rape prophylactic medical measures for reducing
the incidence of transmission of sexual diseases
- The training of correctional staff sufficient to ensure
they understand the significance of prison rape and the necessity of its
eradication
- Ensuring the confidentiality of prison rape complaints
and protecting inmates who make complaints of prison rape
- Data collection and reporting of prison rape, prison
staff sexual misconduct and the resolution of prison rape complaints by prison
officials and federal, state and local investigation and prosecution
authorities
References:
1. http://thomas.loc.gov
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