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, 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. , the Prison Rape Elimination Act of , 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 ; 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. :

• 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 , 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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