Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003

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.

Background

Public awareness of the phenomenon of prison rape 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.cite journal|last=Peek|first=Christine|date=2003|title=Breaking Out of the Prison Hierarchy: Transgendered Prisoners, Rape, and the Eighth Amendment|journal=Santa Clara Law Review|publisher=Santa Clara University School of Law|volume=44 |issue=(Entire Paragraph citation)|pages=pp. 1211–48|issn=0146-0315|oclc=2842601|url=http://www.srlp.org/documents/christinepeek.transprisoners.pdf|accessdate=2008-06-07]

In 2001 Human Rights Watch released a paper, titled "". 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.cite journal|last=Smith|first=Brenda V.|date=Spring 2008|title=The Prison Rape Elimination Act: Implementation and Unresolved Issues|journal=Criminal Law Brief|publisher=Washington College of Law|issue=WCL Research Paper No. 2008-49|oclc=63521701|url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1129810|accessdate=2008-06-07]

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.

upport and lobby

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 was supported by a broad base of activists, lobbyists, and organizations. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission lobbied for the passage of the legislation as did the "anti-feminist" Concerned Women for America.cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,97392,00.html|title=Confonting prison rape|last=McElroy, Wendy|first= |date=September 16, 2003|publisher=FOX News|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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.cite news|url=http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=16630|title=Law targeting prison rape signed; diverse coalition backed measure|last=Strode|first=Tom|date=September 3, 2003|publisher=Baptist Press|accessdate=2008-06-05]

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. [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR01707: H.R.1707 - Bill Summary & Status File] ", "The Library of Congress" THOMAS.gov, September 4, 2003 (last update), accessed June 5, 2008.] 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. [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:s.01435: S.1435 - Bill Summary & Status File] ", "The Library of Congress" THOMAS.gov, September 4, 2003 (last update), accessed June 5, 2008.] " [http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/PubLNo108-79.txt Public Law 108-79, September 4, 2003] ", "Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Programs", United States Department of Justice, September 4, 2003, accessed June 5, 2008.]

Act

Provisions

After the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 was passed by in both houses of the U.S. Congress it was subsequently signed by President George W. Bush in a White House ceremony on September 4, 2003.Jordan, Andrew, Morgan, Marcia, and McCampbell, Michael. " [http://policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=864&issue_id=42006 The Prison Rape Elimination Act: What Police Chiefs Need to Know] ", "The Police Chief", vol. 73, no. 4, April 2006, accessed June 3, 2008.] " [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030904-4.html#2 Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan Aboard Air Force One en route to Kansas City, Missouri] ", "The White House", (Press briefing transcript), 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 and detect incidents of sexual violence in prison, making data on prison rape more available to prison administrators as well as making corrections facilities more accountable for incidents of prison rape.National Institute of Justice Staff, " [http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/213137.pdf NIJ's Response to the Prison Rape Elimination Act] ", (PDF), "Corrections Today", February 2006, accessed June 5, 2008.]

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..Marshall, Carolyn. " [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/20/politics/20rape.html Panel on Prison Rape Hears Victims' Chilling Accounts ] ", "The New York Times, August 20, 2005, accessed June 3, 2008.] 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." [http://www.nprec.us/about.htm About NPREC] ", "National Prison Rape Elimination Commission", accessed June 5, 2008.]

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).cite web|url=http://www.spr.org/pdf/NIC_report_2006.pdf|title=Report to the Congress of the United States on the Activities of the Department of Justice in Relation to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (Public Law 108-79)|date=July 2006|publisher=United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections|accessdate=2008-06-06]

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 NRPREC from 3 years to 5 years after its inception date. [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.01593: H.R. 1593 - Bill Summary & Status File] ", "The Library of Congress" THOMAS.gov, April 9, 2008 (last update), accessed June 5, 2008.] The Senate version was introduced 9 days later and sponsored by 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.

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.

igning statement

Upon signing PREA President Bush issued a signing statement to accompany the law's passage.cite web|url=http://www.coherentbabble.com/signingstatements/TOCindex.htm|title=Signing Statements: George W. Bush|last=Greene|first=Joyce A.|date=2006, 2007, 2008|publisher=Coherentbabble.com|accessdate=2008-06-06] The signing statement specifically exempted the executive branch from two parts of section 7 of PREA.cite web|url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030904-9.html|title=Statement on Prison Rape Elmination Act|last=Bush|first=George W.|date=2003-09-04|publisher=The White House|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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 "prison" quite broadly. Within the context of the act prison is defined as, "any federal, state, or local confinement facility, including local jails, police lockups, juvenile facilities, and state and federal prisons."cite journal|last=Teret|first=Stephen P.|coauthors=Julie Samia Mair, Shannon Frattaroli|date=Winter, 2003|title=New Hope for Victims of Prison Sexual Assault|journal=The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics|publisher= American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics via Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.|issn=1073-1105|url=http://www.spr.org/pdf/New%20Hope%20for%20Victims.pdf|accessdate=2008-06-06] Thus, short-term lockups, such as holding facilities, and local jails, 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 reduction in federal funding to that agency to the tune of 5 percent for each year they fail to comply.cite web|url=http://www.cipp.org/sexual/index2.html|title=Police & Law Enforcement Short-Term Holding Facilities (Lock-Ups) & the Prison Rape Elimination Act: Information and Assistance for Law Enforcement & Chiefs of Police|publisher=The Center for Innovative Public Policies|accessdate=2008-06-06]

Implementation

Grants

PREA authorizes money in the form of grants 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.cite web|url=http://www.spr.org/pdf/SPR_PREA_update_3-29.pdf|title=Prison Rape Elimination Act Update|date=March 2007|publisher=Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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.

Federal facilities

Immigration detention centers

PREA also applies to all federal immigration detention centers.cite web|url=http://www.spr.org/en/factsheets/Prison%20Rape%20Elimination%20Act.pdf|title=SPR Fact Sheet: The Prison Rape Elimination Act|date=October 2007|publisher=Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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.cite web|url=http://www.nprec.us/docs/nprec_ps121506.pdf|title=Bi-partisan commission emphasizes "zero tolerance approach" to sexual violence in U.S. immigration facilities |date=2006-12-15|publisher=National Prison Rape Elimination Commission|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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.cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/66174.pdf|title=Oral Statements by the United States Delegation to the Committee Against Torture|last=Manheim|first=Thomas|coauthors=et al.|date=2006-05-06|publisher=United States Department of State|pages=13|accessdate=2008-06-07]

Juvenile facilities

NPREC held hearings focusing specifically on the elimination of juvenile prison rape victims on June 1, 2006.cite web|url=http://www.nprec.us/proceedings_boston.htm|title=Hearing: Elimination of Prison Rape: Focus on Juveniles - June 1, 2006|date=2006-06-01|publisher=National Prison Rape Elimination Commission|accessdate=2008-06-13] 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.Citation| last =Pihl-Buckley| first =Heidi| author-link =| last2 =| first2 =| author2-link =| title =Tailoring the Prison Rape Elimination Act to a Juvenile Setting| newspaper =Corrections Today| pages =| year =2007| date = | url =http://www.aca.org/publications/pdf/Pihl-Buckley.pdf ]

Local, state and county facilities

Research and studies

Annual reports

In December 2007 United States Department of Justice 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.Kaufman, Pat. " [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/journals/259/prison-rape.htm Prison Rape: Research Explores Prevalence, Prevention] ", "NIJ Journal", No. 259, March 2008, "National Institute of Justice", United States Department of Justice, accessed June 5, 2008.]

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 prison. 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."Sigler, Mary, "By the Light of Virtue: Prison Rape and the Corruption of Character", ( [http://ssrn.com/abstract=896784 Abstract w/ link to document] ), "Iowa Law Review", Vol. 91, pp. 561-607, 2006, accessed June 5, 2008.] 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 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." [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10896343/from/RS.2/ Disputed study: Prison rape, sexual assault rare] ", "Associated Press" via MSNBC.com, January 17, 2006, accessed June 5, 2008.] Fleisher released a substantially revised version of the report in November 2006, Stop Prisoner Rape 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."cite press release| title = U.S.: Bush Should Sign Prison Rape Legislation| publisher = Human Rights Watch| date = July 31, 2003| url = http://hrw.org/english/docs/2003/07/31/usdom6277.htm| accessdate =2008-06-06 ]

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.cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2089095/|title=Violence Silence: Why No One Really Cares About Prison Rape|last=Weisberg, Robert and Mills, David.|date=2003-10-01|publisher=Slate|accessdate=2008-06-06] 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."cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-farrell/ending-the-hidden-savage_b_91867.html|title=Ending the Hidden, Savage Routine of Prison Rape|last=Farrell, Mike|date=2008-03-17|publisher=The Huffington Post|accessdate=2008-06-06]

ee also

*Don't Drop the Soap
*Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.

References

Further reading

*Beck, Allen J., et al. " [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/svrca06.pdf Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2006] ", (PDF), "Bureau of Justice Statistics", August 2007, accessed on June 5, 2008.
*Fleisher, Mark and Krienert, Jesse. " [http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/216515.pdf The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence] ", (PDF), November 2006, "National Institute of Justice", accessed June 5, 2008.
*Mariner, Joanne, et al. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons] ", "Human Rights Watch", 2001, ISBN 1564322580, accessed June 5, 2008.
*Ristroph, Alice, "Sexual Punishments", ( [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=883737 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", ( [http://ssrn.com/abstract=1129816 Abstract w/ link to document] ), "Criminal Law Brief" Spring 2008, American University: Washington College of Law, WCL Research Paper No. 2008-50, accessed June 5, 2008.
*Thomas, Dorothy Q., et al. " [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Us1.htm All too Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons] ", "Human Rights Watch", 1996, ISBN 1564321533, accessed June 5, 2008.

External links

* [http://nicic.org/PREA PREA - National Inst. of Corrections] , "National Institute of Corrections", accessed June 5, 2008.
* [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/programs/prisonrapeelimination.htm Prison Rape Elimination Act Resources] , "Office of Justice Programs", U.S. Department of Justice, accessed June 5, 2008.
* [http://nprec.us/ National Prison Rape Elimination Commission] , official site, accessed June 5, 2008.